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capitulation - 6 dictionary results

ca⋅pit⋅u⋅la⋅tion

[kuh-pich-uh-ley-shuhn]
–noun
1. the act of capitulating.
2. the document containing the terms of a surrender.
3. a list of the headings or main divisions of a subject; a summary or enumeration.
4. Often, capitulations. a treaty or agreement by which subjects of one country residing or traveling in another are extended extraterritorial rights or special privileges, esp. such a treaty between a European country and the former Ottoman rulers of Turkey.

Origin:
1525–35; < ML capitulātiōn- (s. of capitulātiō). See capitulate, -ion


ca⋅pit⋅u⋅la⋅to⋅ry [kuh-pich-uh-luh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] , adjective
ca·pit·u·la·tion   (kə-pĭch'ə-lā'shən)   
n.  
  1. The act of surrendering or giving up. See Synonyms at surrender.
  2. A document containing the terms of surrender.
  3. An enumeration of the main parts of a subject; a summary.

Capitulation

Ca*pit`u*la"tion\, n. [Cf. F. capitulation, LL. capitulatio.]

1. A reducing to heads or articles; a formal agreement.

With special capitulation that neither the Scots nor the French shall refortify. --Bp. Burnet.

2. The act of capitulating or surrendering to an emeny upon stipulated terms.

3. The instrument containing the terms of an agreement or surrender.

capitulation 
1535, "an agreement," from M.Fr. capitulation, from capituler "agree on specified terms," from M.L. capitulare "to draw up in heads or chapters, arrange conditions," from capitulum "chapter," from L. "heading," dim. of caput (gen. capitis) "head" (see head). Meaning narrowed by 1650 to "make terms of surrender."

Capitulation

A military term. Capitulation refers to surrendering or giving up.

In the stock market, capitulation is associated with "giving up" any previous gains in stock price as investors sell equities in an effort to get out of the market and into less risky investments. True capitulation involves extremely high volume and sharp declines. It usually is indicated by panic selling.

Investopedia Commentary

After capitulation selling, it is thought that there are great bargains to be had. The belief is that everyone who wants to get out of a stock, for any reason (including forced selling due to margin calls), has sold. The price should then, theoretically, reverse or bounce off the lows. In other words, some investors believe that true capitulation is the sign of a bottom.

Related Links

Capitulation Defined
War's Influence On Wall Street

See also: Bear Market, Bloodletting, Bottom, Correction, Dead Cat Bounce, Falling Knife, Flight to Quality, Panic Selling, Recession, Torpedo Stock

capitulation

in the history of international law, any treaty whereby one state permitted another to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction over its own nationals within the former state's boundaries. The term is to be distinguished from the military term "capitulation," an agreement for surrender. There was no element of surrender in the early capitulations made by European rulers with the powerful Turkish sultans who were motivated by a desire to avoid the burden of administering justice to foreign merchants. Later capitulations, which in the case of China and other Asian states resulted from military pressure by European states, came to be regarded as (and, in effect, were) humiliating derogations from the sovereignty and equality of these states.

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