▪ I. capon, n.
(ˈkeɪpən)
Forms: 1, 3 capun, 4 capoun, (kapoun, chapon), 4–6 capone, 5 capun(e, (capvne), capoone, 4– capon.
[OE. capun, ad. L. capōn-em in same sense, whence also ONF. capun, capon (F. chapon, Pr. and Sp. capon, It. cappone), which prob. reinforced the Eng. word.]
1. A castrated cock.
| c 1000 ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 132 Capo, capun. Gallinaccus, capun. c 1250 Bestiary 390 in O.E. Misc. 13 Ðe coc and te capun. a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 260 Bute he also capun beo idiȝt. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iv. 38 For a dozeine chickenes Or as many capones. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. xviii. (1495) 425 The capon is a cocke made as it were female by keruynge away of his gendringe stones. 1481 Caxton Reynard 26 He..hadde to fore hym as fatte capone as a man myght fynde. 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man i. (1603) 11 Is made fat with daintie and delicate fare like a capon. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 154 The Iustice In faire round belly, with good Capon lin'd. a 1704 T. Brown Wks. (1760) III. 26 (D.) To truck..justice for fat capons to be delivered before dinner. 1847 Barham Ingol. Leg. (1877) 161 On capons fine they daily dine. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi x. 216 Some fine fat capons. |
b. Formerly used in payment of rent in kind.
| 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, xl. Preamb., xl. acres of wood xlti. rent and the rent of L. capons. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccccxlvii. 789 They gadered vp the rentes, as Capons, and other thynges in his townes. |
c. As a type of dullness, and a term of reproach.
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 307 b, [He] came flynging home to Roome again as wyse as a capon. 1551 T. Wilson Logike 11 Some [men] are capones by kinde, and so blunt by nature, that no arte at all can whet them. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 32 Mome,..Capon, Coxcombe, Idiot, Patch. |
† 2. transf. A eunuch.
| 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits (1616) 279 Of a 1000 such capons who addict themselues to their booke, none attaineth to anie perfection, euen in musicke (which is their ordinarie profession). 1605 Tryall Chev. ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. (1884) III. 289. 1691 D'Urfey All for Money 65 If there be a Capon in Christendom, I'll make thee one. |
3. Humorously applied to various fish;
esp. a red-herring.
| c 1640 J. Smyth Hundred of Berkeley (1885) 319 The Sole wee call our Seuverne Capon. 1699 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Yarmouth-Capon, a Red Herring. 1719 Ramsay Hamilton ii. iii, A Glasgow capon and a fadge Ye thought a feast. 1812 W. Tennant Anster F. iv, Each to his jaws A good Crail's capon holds [note ‘a dried haddock’]. 1847–78 Halliwell, Capon, a red-herring. Kent. |
† 4. A billet-doux.
Cf. F.
poulet ‘a chicken; also, a loue-letter, or loue-message’ (
Cotgr.).
Obs.| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. i. 56 O thy letter, thy letter..Boyet, you can carue, Breake vp this Capon. |
5. Comb., as
capon-broth,
capon-flesh;
capon-crammed,
capon-like,
capon-lined adjs.;
capon-beer, ? capon-broth made with beer;
capon-bell, the passing-bell (Halliwell cites Dekker);
† capon-cote, a house for keeping capons;
capon-justice, a corrupt magistrate who is bribed by gifts of capons;
capon-money, money in commutation of a payment of capons;
† capon's-feather, the feather of a capon; also, Common Columbine (
Aquilegia vulgaris);
† capon's-tail, a plant,
Valeriana pyrenaica;
capon's-tail grass,
Festuca Myurus (Britten and Holland).
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §411 Drink incorporate with Flesh or roots (as in *Capon-beer &c.) will nourish more easily. |
| 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 78 If the Alderman thought that an impossibility, he was certainly far gone in *Capon-broth. |
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 136 Hue hadde a childe in the *chapon-cote. |
| 1597 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. ii. 1214 His mawe must be *Capon crambd each day. |
| a 1662 Heylin Hist. Ref. (1849) I. 212 (D.) Salcot of Salisbury [otherwise called Capon]..redeems his peace..by making long leases of the best of his farms and manors; known afterwards most commonly by the name of *Capon's feathers. 1847–78 Halliwell, Capon's-feather, the herb columbine. |
| c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 662 Caro spadonia, *capuneflesche. Caro caponina, caponflesche. |
| a 1639 Ward Serm. (1862) 128 (D.) Judges that judge for reward, and say with shame, ‘Bring you’, such as the country calls *capon justices. |
| 1856 R. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 150 A portly, *capon-lined burgomaster. |
| 1714 Lond. Gaz. No. 5246/3 In Arrear to the Corporation of Portsmouth, for Town-Rents, Reliefs, *Capon-Money or other Dues. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes, Phu is called in englishe setwal, of other some *Capones tayle. 1598 Florio, Amantilla, the herbe Valerian, Capons taile or Setwall. |
| 1597 Gerard Herbal i. xxii. 29 My friend..gave it the title..*Capons-taile Gracce. |
▪ II. ˈcapon, v. [f. prec.; = F. chaponner.] trans. To make a capon of; to castrate. Hence
ˈcaponed ppl. a.,
ˈcaponing vbl. n.| 1624 Massinger Renegado i. i, Had it been discovered, I had been caponed. 1668 R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 184 Nothing but a Capon'd, a thing unman'd, could ever, etc. 1693 Dryden Juvenal's Sat. vi. 487. 1886 N. Zealand Her. 1 June 2/6 The caponing of male fowl birds. |