cape

English Online Dictionary. What means cape‎? What does cape mean?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: kāp, IPA^(key): /keɪp/
• Rhymes: -eɪp

Etymology 1

From Middle English cape, gappe, cap, from Old French cap (“cape, headland”), from Latin caput (“head”). Doublet of capo, caput, chef, and chief, and distantly with head and Howth. For sense development, compare English ness (“a promontory point, cape”) from a root related to nose.

Noun

cape (plural capes)

1. (geography) A piece or point of land, extending beyond the adjacent coast into a sea or lake; a promontory; a headland.

   Synonyms: chersonese, ness, peninsula, point

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From French cape, from Old Occitan capa, from Late Latin cappa (“cape”). The second sense ("superhero") is metonymic from the fact that many superheroes wear capes. Likewise, the verb sense "defend, praise" alludes to the stereotypical depiction of superheroes wearing capes when they come to people's defense. (Compare caped crusader.) Doublet of capa and cappa.

Noun

cape (plural capes)

1. A sleeveless garment or part of a garment, hanging from the neck over the back, arms, and shoulders.
2. (slang) A superhero.

Translations

Usage notes

• Some authors distinguish capes from cloaks, especially by saying capes are shorter or sometimes that cloaks have hoods (cowls) or are of thicker material for dealing with cold or wet weather, but the terms are generally interchanged. For example, the traditional Inverness cape is thick for inclement weather and reaches to the calf, James Robinson Planché's 1879 Cyclopaedia of Costume or Dictionary of Dress includes some capes with hoods, and Batman's cape has a cowl today and, like Dracula's and Superman's capes, typically reaches to the calf if not to the ground.

Derived terms

Descendants

See also

• cloak

Verb

cape (third-person singular simple present capes, present participle caping, simple past and past participle caped)

1. To incite or attract (a bull) to charge a certain direction, by waving a cape.
2. (nautical) To head or point; to keep a course.

3. To skin an animal, particularly a deer.
4. (US, slang, chiefly with "for") To defend or praise, especially that which is unworthy.
   • 2017, Laila Nur, quoted in Jordan Green, "Far-right groups converge behind anti-sharia message in Raleigh", Triad City Beat, 14 June - 20 June 2017, page 9:

     Many times, you see white supremacist groups caping for women to mask their agenda of white nationalism.

   • 2017, Mindy Isser [organizer], quoted by Aubrey Whelan [journalist] in "For Philly's socialists, election wins signal momentum", The Philadelphia Inquirer, 15 November 2017:

     "I can't believe I'm out here caping for a politician."

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:cape.
5. (transitive) To cover (as) with or like a cape.

Anagrams

• EPAC, EPCA, EAPC, PECA, Pace, Apec, PACE, pace, APEC

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡sapɛ]

Verb

cape

1. third-person singular present of capat

   Synonym: capá

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English cape.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /keːp/
• Hyphenation: cape
• Rhymes: -eːp

Noun

cape m (plural capes, diminutive capeje n)

1. a cape

   Synonym: mantel

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Occitan capa, from Late Latin cappa (compare the inherited doublet chape; cf. also the Old Northern French variant cape).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kap/
• Homophones: capent, capes

Noun

cape f (plural capes)

1. cape

Derived terms

• de cape et d’épée
• rire sous cape

Descendants

• → English: cape (see there for further descendants)
• → Romanian: capă

Verb

cape

1. inflection of caper:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “cape”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Verb

cape

1. inflection of capar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Indonesian

Adjective

cape

1. (colloquial, slang) alternative spelling of capek

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈka.pe/
• Rhymes: -ape
• Hyphenation: cà‧pe

Noun

cape f

1. plural of capa

Anagrams

• Pace, pace

Latin

Verb

cape

1. second-person singular present active imperative of capiō

References

• "cape", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Lutuv

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡səpee/

Verb

cape

1. to read

References

• Grayson Ziegler (2022) “Tenselessness in Hnaring Lutuv”, in Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures‎^[1], volume 3, number 1

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

cape

1. Alternative form of cappe

Etymology 2

Noun

cape

1. Alternative form of cope

Neapolitan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkapə/

Noun

cape f

1. plural of capa

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From English cape, from French cape, from Late Latin cappa. Cognate with kappe (“cloak”), kåpe (“cloak”), kapp (“cape, headland”).

Noun

cape m (definite singular capen, indefinite plural caper, definite plural capene)

1. a cape (sleeveless garment worn by women, which covers the shoulders and arms)

References

• “cape” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “cape” in The Ordnett Dictionary

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From English cape, from French cape, from Late Latin cappa.

Noun

cape m (definite singular capen, indefinite plural capar, definite plural capane)

1. a cape (sleeveless garment worn by women, which covers the shoulders and arms)

References

• “cape” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ca‧pe
• Rhymes: -api, -apɨ

Verb

cape

1. inflection of capar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Rukai

Noun

cape

1. seed (of a fruit)

Spanish

Verb

cape

1. inflection of capar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English cape. Doublet of kappa, kåpa, kapott, kapucin, and kapuschong.

Noun

cape c

1. cape (sleeveless garment used by women)

Declension

Further reading

• cape in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker