capitalize, v.
(ˈkæpɪtəlaɪz)
[f. capital n.2+ -ize.]
1. a. trans. To convert into capital.
| 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. xxiii. (ed. 3) 307 Notes bearing interest, to be subsequently capitalised into a funded debt. 1885 Sir E. Kay in Law Times Rep. LII. 369/2 The company were authorised..to capitalise the reserved fund. |
| fig. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 241 They should teach us to capitalize our philosophy. |
b. To invest with capital.
U.S.| 1870 J. K. Medbery Men & Myst. Wall St. 11 The variations of its [sc. Wall St.'s] share market affect the whole volume of capitalized indebtedness the country through. 1897 Daily News 13 Mar. 2/2 This Company is very moderately capitalised at {pstlg}80,000 in Shares of {pstlg}1 each. 1948 Chicago Tribune 18 Aug. iii. 5/5 The Canadian unit..will be capitalized at 5,000 shares of $100 par value stock. 1970 Sci. Amer. Mar. 35/2 A conglomerate can..apply the debt capacity of safe, mature businesses to capitalize rapidly growing but unstable ventures. |
c. To make capital out of, turn to account. Also
absol. orig. U.S.| 1869 in Trans. Kansas Hist. Soc. (1900) VI. 64 To capitalize this land in the hands of speculators. 1926 Publishers' Weekly 22 May 1701 The book-stores and the libraries can capitalize on that same interest. Ibid. 29 May 1795 The publishers..do not intend to capitalize the publicity. 1935 Punch 15 May 578/3, I can only ‘capitalize’..something which already belongs to me... And therefore I condemn the advertisement..which asserts that the makers..have ‘capitalised this mother-instinct’. 1953 Encounter Nov. 9/1 The Tokyo Evening News..capitalises on the time-difference between Japan, America, and Europe to be up-to-the-minute with the news. 1958 Times 18 Nov. 13/5 His material was indifferent..but..he was able to capitalize brilliantly on every disadvantage. |
2. To convert (a periodical income or payment) into an equivalent capital sum; to compute or realize the present value of such a payment for a definite or indefinite length of time. Also
spec. in
Accounting, to reckon (a current outgoing) as though it were a capital asset on the basis of its expected earnings in the future, less any maintenance costs.
| 1856 Times 22 Jan., As to the project of capitalizing incomes, that is another affair. 1861 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. cxlv. 131 The hundred millions..must be, as the term learnt in France I think is, capitalized. 1972 Nature 28 Jan. 183/1 It may be proper to capitalize the cost of research and development.., yet there should have been more anxious questions much sooner about the scale on which Rolls-Royce had been..turning paper losses into paper profits. 1982 N.Y. Times 17 Dec. d8/6 The companies will also be required to capitalize leases in the same manner as unregulated companies. 1985 Metals Week 30 Dec. 1 The company will decrease ore reserves..allowing for a ‘significant writedown of certain assets and capitalized preproduction expenditures’. |
3. To print in capitals. Also, to print an initial letter in capitals. Also in
vbl. n. = capitalling vbl. n.| 1764 Acc. Coll. New-Jersey 25 All these compositions..are critically examined with respect to the..pointing, capitalizing, with the other minutiæ. 1809 W. Cuningham Jr. Let. 23 Sept. (1823) xlix. 165, I capitalized the prophetic parts of the letter..and italicized the Latin. 1850 Whipple Ess. & Rev. II. 264 Capitalizing the names of abstract qualities. 1890 Phonetic Jrnl. 26 Some peculiarity in capitalising. 1944 [see Afro-]. 1964 F. Bowers Bibliogr. & Text. Crit. vi. iv. 186 The single Q capitalization is also capitalized in F. |
Hence
ˈcapitalized ppl. a.,
capitalizer (
ˈkæpɪtəˌlaɪzə(r))
n.,
ˈcapitalizing vbl. n.| 1863 Gladstone Financ. Statem. 33 The capitalized value of the income. 1880 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 849 The administrator of capital and labour is not a mere middleman; he is a capitalizer. 1882 W. B. Weeden Soc. Law Labor 28 Small farmers..are almost always capitalizers. 1880 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 848 Capitalizing; that is the converting of capital and labour into more capital. |