of the Latin coput "the head", is used on various occasions, to express the relation of a head, chief, or principal: thus,

CAPITAL City, in geography, denotes the principal city of a kingdom, state, or province.

CAPITAL Stock, among merchants, bankers, and traders, signifies, the sum of money which individuals bring to make up the common stock of a partnership when it is first formed. It is also said of the stock which a merchant at first puts into trade for his account. It likewise signifies the fund of a trading company or corporation, in which sense the word stock is generally added to it. Thus we say, the capital stock of the bank, &c. The word capital is opposed to that of profit or gain, though the profit often increases the capital, and becomes of itself part of the capital, when joined with the former.

CAPITAL Crime, such a one as subjects the criminal to capital punishment, that is, to loss of life.

CAPITAL Picture, in painting, denotes one of the finest and most excellent pieces of any celebrated master.

CAPITAL Letters, in printing, large or initial letters, wherein titles, &c. are composed; with which all periods, verses, &c. commence; and wherewith also all proper names of men, kingdoms, nations, &c. begin. The practice which, for some time, obtained among our printers, of beginning every substantive with a capital, is now justly fallen into disrepute; being a manifest perversion of the design of capitals, as well as an offence against beauty and distinctness.

in architecture, the uppermost part of a column or pilaster, serving as the head or crowning, and placed immediately over the shaft, and under the entablature. See Architecture.