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Cape

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cape

1[keyp] noun, verb, caped, cap⋅ing.
–noun
1. a sleeveless garment of various lengths, fastened around the neck and falling loosely from the shoulders, worn separately or attached to a coat or other outer garment.
2. the capa of a bullfighter.
–verb (used with object)
3. (of a matador or capeador during a bullfight) to induce and guide the charge of (a bull) by flourishing a capa.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME (north); OE -cāp (see cope 2 ), reinforced in 16th century by Sp capa < LL cappa hooded cloak, cope 2


caped, adjective

cape

2[keyp] noun, verb, caped, cap⋅ing, adjective
–noun
1. a piece of land jutting into the sea or some other large body of water.
2. the Cape.
a. Northeastern U.S. Cape Cod.
b. Cape of Good Hope.
3. capeskin.
–verb (used without object)
4. Nautical. (of a ship) to have good steering qualities.
–adjective
5. (initial capital letter) pertaining to the Cape of Good Hope or to South Africa: a Cape diamond.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME cap < MF < OPr < VL *capum for L caput head


1. point, promontory, headland, spit.

Sa⋅ble

[sey-buhl]
–noun
1. Cape, a cape on a small island at the SW tip of Nova Scotia, Canada: lighthouse.
2. a cape at the S tip of Florida.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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cape 1   (kāp)   
n.  
  1. A sleeveless outer garment fastened at the throat and worn hanging over the shoulders.

  2. A brightly colored cloth used in maneuvering the bull in a bullfight; a capote or muleta.

tr.v.   caped, cap·ing, capes
To maneuver (the bull) by means of a cape in a bullfight.

[Middle English cape, partly variant of cope, cope; see cope2, and partly from Anglo-Norman cape (from Medieval Latin cāpa, variant of Late Latin cappa).]
cape 2   (kāp)   
n.   Abbr. C.
A point or head of land projecting into a body of water.

[Middle English cap, from Old French, from Old Provençal, from Latin caput, head; see kaput- in Indo-European roots.]
Cape   (kāp)   
For names of actual capes, see the specific element of the names, for example, Hatteras, Cape; Good Hope, Cape of. Other geographic names beginning with Cape are entered under Cape, for example, Cape Coral, Florida; Cape York Peninsula.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

cape  (1)
"garment," O.E. capa, from L.L. cappa "cape, hooded cloak" (see cap). The modern word and meaning were a reborrowing (1565) from Fr., from Sp., in reference to a Sp. style.

cape  (2)
"promontory," 1386, from M.Fr. cap, from L. caput "headland, head" (see head). The Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa has been the Cape since 1667. Cape Cod, in reference to houses reminiscent of New England architecture, is 1916. Sailors called low cloud banks that could be mistaken for landforms on the horizon Cape fly-away (1769).

sable  (1)
1423, from M.Fr. sable (also martre sable "sable martin"), in reference to the mammal or its fur, from O.Fr., from a Gmc. source (cf. M.Du. sabel, M.L.G. sabel, M.H.G. zobel), ultimately from a Slavic source (cf. Rus., Pol., Czech sobol, the name of the animal), "which itself is borrowed from an East-Asiatic language" [Klein].
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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