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 Succession by, where the claimants are next in degree to the ancestor, in their own right, and not by right of representation.

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.