cape
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cape¹
- /keɪp/
Rhymes with -eɪp
Where it comes from
From Middle English cape, gappe, cap, from Old French cap (“cape, headland”), from Latin caput (“head”). Compare Old Norse kobbi (“islet, small cape”).
Doublet of capo, caput, chef, and chief, and distantly with head and Howth.
For sense development, compare English ness (“a promontory point, cape”) from a root related to nose, Bulgarian нос (nos) (the same PIE root). Also compare coast (<< Latin costa).
noun capes
-
A piece or point of land, extending beyond the adjacent coast into a sea or lake; a promontory; a headland.
Similar: chersonese, ness, peninsula, point
cape²
- /keɪp/
Rhymes with -eɪp
Where it comes from
From French cape, from Old Occitan capa, from Late Latin cappa (“cape”). The second sense ("superhero") is metonymic from the fact that many superheroes wear capes. Likewise, the verb sense "defend, praise" alludes to the stereotypical depiction of superheroes wearing capes when they come to people's defense. (Compare caped crusader.) Doublet of capa and cappa.
noun capes
- A sleeveless garment or part of a garment, hanging from the neck over the back, arms, and shoulders. Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.
- A superhero. Rows and rows of booths and pavilions stretch across the floor, draped with glowing holograms and shifting signs beckoning capes to try their wares. Bystander insurance. Hypertech components. Mystical ingredients. Training DVDs ...
verb capes · caping · caped
- To incite or attract (a bull) to charge a certain direction, by waving a cape. “I became a novillero when I was fourteen, but I had already been going to the fields and caping bulls since I was about twelve."
- To head or point; to keep a course. The ship capes southwest by south.
- To skin (an animal, or particularly the head and shoulders of an animal, especially a deer), for taxidermy. Caping[:] Hunters often have a head mount made from large or otherwise special trophies. Head mounts include the neck or neck and shoulders, called the cape. Caping, or skinning the head / shoulders, must be done carefully to keep [everything intact].
- To defend or praise, especially that which is unworthy. A lot of African-Americans believe the answer is Clinton, mostly because "she's not Trump" and because President Barack Obama is shamelessly caping for her.
- To cover (as) with or like a cape. The white fur that caped his neck and shoulders stood on end.
Cape³
Where it comes from
English surname, from the noun cape. Also found in French as Capé.
proper noun Capes
- A surname.
proper noun the Cape
- Ellipsis of Cape of Good Hope
- Ellipsis of Cape Province: a former province of South Africa, split into three in 1994. This is my maat Marius; he just moved to Joburg from the Cape.
- Ellipsis of Cape Cod
- Ellipsis of Cape Colony
- Ellipsis of Cape Canaveral: a peninsula in Florida, United States, where the major U.S. spaceflight complex is located.
CAPE⁴
noun
- Acronym of convective available potential energy
- Acronym of cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio Take the economist Robert Shiller’s CAPE ratio, which measures the valuation of the S&P 500 over long periods. Professor Shiller, a Nobel laureate, designed it as an inflation-adjusted yardstick for comparing stock prices with the average of the last 10 years of corporate earnings.
proper noun
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: mantle, ness, headland, place, head, green, crown, cap, kip, hac, cloak, robe, pilgrim, mantilla, chaps, apc
Translations
Every language
Talk about this word "cape." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cape. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. cape. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cape "cape." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cape.Cite this
@misc{cape_2026,
title = {cape},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cape},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
