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.

Capital, 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.