Word of the Day: Capital and Capitol
Capital
cap-i-tal / kăp-ĭ-tl
adjective
1. first, primary, main
Since the most ancient times, all men, and particularly those who endeavored in the practice of medicine, have brought closer together two natural phenomena ofcapital importance: illness or fever and fermentation. Louis Pasteur, 1822 – 1895
2. excellent, top-notch
When I come upon anything-in Logic or in any other hard subject-that entirely puzzles me, I find it a capital plan to talk it over, aloud, even when I am all alone. Lewis Carroll, 1832 – 1898
3. related to being a seat of government
There is no reason, in the capital city of the richest country in the world, for anybody to be hungry. William E. Conway, Jr., 1949 –
4. very serious
It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Arthur Conan Doyle 1859-1930
5. involving death or the death penalty
If lying were a capital crime, the hangman would work overtime. Spanish proverb
6. involving the financial assets or wealth of
I was originally supposed to become an engineer but the thought of having to expend my creative energy on things that make practical everyday life even more refined, with a loathsome capital gain as the goal, was unbearable to me. Albert Einstein, 1879 – 1955
7. involving an uppercase letter
No one thinks about capital letters or punctuation when one texts, but then again, do you think about those things when you talk? John H. McWhorter, 1965 –
noun
1. resource, means, principal, wealth
Education is a capital to the poor man, and an interest to the rich man. Horace Mann, 1796 – 1859
2. the investors of a business or venture as a group
Each needs the other: capital cannot do without labor, nor labor without capital. Pope Leo XIII, 1810 – 1903
3. an uppercase letter, often used as the first letter of a sentence or in a proper name
Use capitals for proper nouns. From “The Rules of Capitalization”
4. the city where the rules for a state or county are made; a seat of government
America is a nation with no truly national city, no Paris, no Rome, no London, no city which is at once the social center, the political capital, and the financial hub. C. Wright Mills 1916-1962
5. the top part of a column
If you look at Gothic detailing right down to the bottom of a column or thecapital of a column, it’s a small version of the whole building; that’s why, like dating the backbones of a dinosaur, a good historian can look at a detail of a Gothic building and tell you exactly what the rest of the building was, and infer the whole from the parts. Charles Jencks, 1939 –
Capitol
cap-i-tol / kăp-ĭ-tl
noun
1. the building in which the Congress of the United States or a state legislature meets to create laws
We reached Washington at about half-past six that evening, and had upon the way a beautiful view of the Capitol, which is a fine building of the Corinthian order, placed upon a noble and commanding eminence.
From “American Notes for General Circulation” by Charles Dickens, 1812 – 1870
Thank you for including the Dictionary Project in the good work you do in your club. In my club, we have provided Dictionaries for third-grade students for enough years that now we are having former students help us to present dictionaries each year. They are often returning to the same classrooms that they were third-grade students. Teachers plead every year for us to NEVER quit this valuable project. They tell us that students NEED paper books to learn to read, to learn to do research and to do independent study. Please send me pictures of your presentations and tell me about your visits to the schools to give dictionaries to the students. To be included in our newsletter you can send me your stories at DG.2019@5630mail.org.
