capital

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The head or uppermost member of anything.
• noun In fortification, the line which bisects the salient angle of a ravelin.
• noun The head of a still, a chimney, etc.
• Relating to the head; situated on the head.
• Used at the head or beginning, as of a sentence, line, or word. See capital letters, below.
• Affecting the head or life; incurring or involving the forfeiture of life; punishable with death: as, treason and murder are capital offenses or crimes; hence, fatal; most serious: as, a capital mistake.
• First in importance; chief; principal.
• Very good; excellent; first-class: as, a capital singer or player; a capital dinner; a capital fellow.
• Syn. 4. Leading, prominent, important, essential.
• Prime, splendid, perfect.
• noun The city or town which is the official seat of government in a country, state, or province, or of justice in a county.
• noun A capital letter (which see, under I.). Abbreviated cap.
• To furnish or crown with a capital, as a pillar or column.
• noun In political economics, that part of the produce of industry which, in the form either of national or of individual wealth, is available for further production; an accumulation of the products of past labor capable of being used in the support of present or future labor.
• noun Specifically, the wealth employed in carrying on a particular trade, manufacture, business, or undertaking; stock in trade; the actual estate, whether in money or property, which is owned and employed by an individual, firm, or corporation in business.
• noun Figuratively, productive resources of any kind, whether physical or moral; means of influence or of increasing one's power.
• noun A chapter or section of a book.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• adjective obsolete Of or pertaining to the head.
• adjective Having reference to, or involving, the forfeiture of the head or life; affecting life; punishable with death.
• adjective First in importance; chief; principal.
• adjective Chief, in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation.
• adjective colloq. Of first rate quality; excellent.
• adjective (Print.) a leading or heading letter, used at the beginning of a sentence and as the first letter of certain words, distinguished, for the most part, both by different form and larger size, from the small (lower-case) letters, which form the greater part of common print or writing.
• adjective have the form of capital letters and height of the body of the lower-case letters.
• adjective money, property, or stock invested in any business, or the enterprise of any corporation or institution.
• noun (Arch.) The head or uppermost member of a column, pilaster, etc. It consists generally of three parts, abacus, bell (or vase), and necking. See these terms, and column.
• noun (Geog.) The seat of government; the chief city or town in a country; a metropolis.
• noun Money, property, or stock employed in trade, manufactures, etc.; the sum invested or lent, as distinguished from the income or interest. See Capital stock, under Capital, a.
• noun (Polit. Econ.) That portion of the produce of industry, which may be directly employed either to support human beings or to assist in production.
• noun Anything which can be used to increase one's power or influence.
• noun (Fort.) An imaginary line dividing a bastion, ravelin, or other work, into two equal parts.
• noun obsolete A chapter, or section, of a book.
• noun (Print.) See Capital letter, under Capital, a.
• noun See under Active
• noun (Print.) a small capital letter; informally referred to (in the plural) as small caps; as, the technical terms are listed in small caps. See under Capital, a.
• noun to consume one's capital without producing or accumulating anything to replace it.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun uncountable, economics Already-produced durable goods available for use as a factor of production, such as steam shovels (equipment) and office buildings (structures).
• noun uncountable, business, finance Money and wealth. The means to acquire goods and services, especially in a non-barter system.
• noun countable A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.
• noun countable The most important city in the field specified.
• noun countable An uppercase letter.
• noun countable, architecture The uppermost part of a column.
• noun uncountable Knowledge; awareness; proficiency.
• adjective of prime importance
• adjective UK excellent
• adjective Involving punishment by death.
• adjective uppercase

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a book written by Karl Marx (1867) describing his economic theories
• noun a seat of government
• adjective of primary importance