[See below.]
1. A kind of wrapping paper: the precise application has apparently varied from time to time.
1577. Richmond. Wills (1853), 269. Vj quare of capp paper, xijd., xij quaire of paper.
1585. J. Higins, Junius’ Nomenclator, 6/1 (N.). Packe paper, or cap paper, such paper as Mercers and other occupiers vse to wrappe their ware in.
1634. Althorp MS., in Simpkinson, Washingtons, Introd. 65. 4 quire of cappe paper to pack up ye plate, 00 01 04.
1693. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 973. Cap paper or brown paper, wherein grocers wrap their ware.
1745. Stukeley, Corr., I. 371. Send it to me by the carrier, tyed up in a bit of cap-paper.
a. 1847. Mrs. Sherwood, Lady of Manor, IV. xxiv. 92. She was offering to Henry a small parcel contained in cap-paper.
1877. E. Peacock, N. W. Linc. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Cap-paper, a whity-brown, thin paper, such as milliners fold their wares in.
† 2. Used as filter-paper. Obs.
1634. J. B[ate], Myst. Nature & Art, 30. Strain them through a cap paper.
1667. Boyle, Orig. Formes & Qual., 204. We put the whole Mixture in a Glasse Funnel lin’d with Cap-paper.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., s.v. Caustick, Then filtrate through Cap-paper.
1788. Withering, in Phil. Trans., LXXVIII. 321. Saturated with vegetable alkali it converted cap paper into touch paper.
3. A size or kind of writing paper.
1854. Landor, Lett. American, 52. Meanwhile on what cap-paper were employed the unseasoned crow-quills of the Continent!
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, III. 494.
1874. Knight, Mech. Dict., Cap-paper, 1. a kind of writing paper. Ruled with blue lines, and folding on the back, it is foolscap; with red lines to form a margin on the left hand, and made to fold on the top, it is legal cap. 2. A size of paper from 71/2 × 12 to 81/2 × 14.
[Probably, senses 1 and 3 are quite distinct in origin. Sense 1 has been conjectured to have originated in the use to which the paper was put, as a ‘cap’ to hold groceries, or as the material for the paper caps of workmen. Sense 3 may have been named from the watermark of a cap, employed to indicate a certain size. Cf. also FOOL’S-CAP.]
