▪ I. capping, vbl. n.
(ˈkæpɪŋ)
[f. cap v.1 + -ing1.]
1. a. The action of the vb. cap in various senses.
| 1592 Greene Groatsw. Wit (1617) 3 Schollers..receiued (after long capping and reuerence) a sixepenny reward. 1602 Return fr. Parnass. i. iv. (Arb.) 17 Letts leaue this capping of rimes. 1717 De Foe Hist. Ch. Scot. ii. 45 The Bishop..would have proved that Capping, or pulling off the Hat, and kneeling, were synonimous. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola i. xvi. (1880) I. 225 To be swamped in the capping of impromptu verses. 1883 Athenæum 3 Nov. 564/1 A capping of the Cervantic with the Rabelaisian spirit. 1885 M. Pattison Mem. 57 In the thought of how I ought to perform my first act of ‘capping’ I omitted the ceremony altogether. |
b. spec. The putting of a gun-cap upon a gun, etc. Also attrib.
| 1847 Infantry Man. (1854) 34 Bring the firelock down to the capping position. 1866 Cornh. Mag. Sept. 345 A capping system..entails a loss of not less than fifty per cent. in rapidity. 1881 Greener Gun 105 The best capping breech-loader ever invented. |
c. The ceremony of conferring a University degree in Scotland. Also N.Z.
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 28 Aug. 2/3 Sir Robert Stout..announced at the last capping at Wellington that..if the students persisted in their senseless conduct there would be no more capping ceremonies in public. 1966 Weekly News (N.Z.) 27 Apr. 10/4 Invading students from Massey University did not have permission from the Auckland City Council to sell their capping magazine in Queen St. |
d. The practice of taking a definite sum of money for a day's hunting from a non-subscriber to the hunt. (See cap n.1 6.)
| 1890 Pall Mall Gaz. 26 Feb. 3/1 The proceeds of the capping should go to a damage fund. 1897 Daily News 16 Jan. 7/6 It has just been decided by the Hunt Committee to introduce the ‘capping’ system into the Quorn country next season. |
2. Cap-making; the capper's trade.
| 1662 Fuller Worthies, Wales 49 Capping anciently set fifteen distinct Callings on work. |
3. That with which anything is capped, covered at the top, or overlaid. spec. of honey or cells in a honeycomb.
| 1713 Lond. & Country Brew. iii. (1743) 207 Under its Capping of fresh Malt. 1792 Phil. Trans. LXXII. 374 The upper plate of lead which served as a capping to the junction of the hip with the ridge of the roof. 1832 H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. 409 It is here without that great capping of the oolitic group. 1850 J. Leitch tr. Müller's Anc. Art 316 A truncated pillar..with base and capping. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 25 The capping of sand..of insignificant thickness. 1934 in Webster. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Jan. 27/2 When drained free of surplus honey, wax cappings [of cells] should not be thrown away. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as capping-sheaf, capping-stone; capping-leather, leather from which the upper leather of a shoe is made; capping-plane (Joinery), a plane for working the upper surface of the balustrade on a staircase; capping-woollen, woollen stuff for cap-making.
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 142 *Cappinge leather is soe deare. |
| 1877 E. Peacock N.W. Linc. Gloss. (E.D.S.) *Capping-sheaves, the hood-sheaves of a ‘stook’ of corn. *Capping-stones, the coping stones of a wall or other building. |
| 1555 Fardle Facions ii. ix. 198 Rounde about these sparres thei straine *cappyng wollen. |
▪ II. capping, ppl. a.
(ˈkæpɪŋ)
[f. cap v.1 + -ing2.]
That caps, that makes an obeisance.
| 1602 Breton Mother's Bless. lxii. (D.) A smoothing tongue, a capping knee. |