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caption - 5 dictionary results

cap⋅tion

[kap-shuhn]
–noun
1. a title or explanation for a picture or illustration, esp. in a magazine.
2. a heading or title, as of a chapter, article, or page.
3. Movies, Television. the title of a scene, the text of a speech, etc., superimposed on the film and projected onto the screen.
4. Law. the heading of a legal document stating the time, place, etc., of execution or performance.
–verb (used with object)
5. to supply a caption or captions for; entitle: to caption a photograph.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME capcio(u)n seizure < L captiōn- (s. of captiō), equiv. to capt(us) taken (see captive ) + -iōn- -ion


cap⋅tion⋅less, adjective
cap·tion   (kāp'shən)   
n.  
  1. A title, short explanation, or description accompanying an illustration or a photograph.
  2. A series of words superimposed on the bottom of television or motion picture frames that communicate dialogue to the hearing-impaired or translate foreign dialogue.
  3. A title or heading, as of a document or article.
  4. Law The heading of a pleading or other document that identifies the parties, court, term, and number of the action.
tr.v.   cap·tioned, cap·tion·ing, cap·tions
To furnish a caption for.

[Middle English capcioun, arrest, from Old French capcion, from Latin captiō, captiōn-, from captus, past participle of capere, to seize; see kap- in Indo-European roots.]

Caption

Cap"tion\, n. [L. captio, fr. caper to take. In senses 3 and 4, perhaps confounded in meaning with L. caput a head. See Capacious.]

1. A caviling; a sophism. [Obs.]

This doctrine is for caption and contradiction. --Bacon.

2. The act of taking or arresting a person by judicial process. [R.] --Bouvier.

3. (Law) That part of a legal instrument, as a commission, indictment, etc., which shows where, when, and by what authority, it was taken, found, or executed. --Bouvier. --Wharton.

4. The heading of a chapter, section, or page. [U. S.]
Language Translation for : caption
Spanish: leyenda,
German: die Überschrift,
Japanese: 見出し

caption 
c.1384, "taking, seizure," from O.Fr. capcion, from L. capito pp. of capere "to take" (see capable). Sense evolved from headings of legal indictments involving seizure ("Certificate of caption"), the word being taken to mean the beginning of any document; thus "heading of a chapter or section of an article" (1789), and, especially in U.S., "description or title below an illustration" (1919).

Main Entry: cap·tion
Pronunciation: 'kap-sh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Medieval Latin captio act of taking, from Latin capere to take
: the part of a legal document that states the court, the names of the parties, the docket number, the title of the document, and sometimes the name of the judge
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