[a. F. capricorne or ad. L. capricornus ‘goat-horned’ (the Zodiacal sign), f. caper, capr-um goat + cornu horn; cf. Gr. αἰγόκερως. The Latin form also is common in English books in sense 1.]
1. Astron. a. The Zodiacal constellation of the He-Goat, lying between Sagittarius and Aquarius. b. The tenth of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, beginning at the most southerly point of the ecliptic or winter solstitial point, which the sun enters about the 21st of December. Tropic of Capricorn: the southern Tropic forming a tangent to the ecliptic at the first point of Capricorn.
c. 1392. Chaucer, Astrol., I. § 17. Wiche declinacioun … is 23 degrees & 50 Minutes, as wel in cancer as in Capricorne.
1430. Lydg., Chron. Troy, Prol. Whose lordshyp cheifest is in Capricorne.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXXIII. i. (1845), 161. Whan golden Phebus in the Capricorne Gan to ascend fast unto Aquary.
1595. J. Davis, Seamans Secr., II. 5. What is the Tropick of Capricorn?
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 677. As deep as Capricorne.
1687. Dryden, Hind & P., III. 598. That very morn The Sun was entered into Capricorn.
1833. [see CANCER 2].
1867. Denison, Astron. without Math., 37. The tropic of Capricorn, which the sun reaches in our winter and the southern midsummer.
† 2. A ‘goat-horned’ animal; ? a chamois. Obs.
1646. Evelyn, Diary (Chandos), 189. He shew’d two heads and hornes of the true capricorne, which animal he told us was frequently kill’d among the mountaines.
3. Capricorn beetle: a name given to beetles of the genus Cerambyx.
1700. W. King, Transactioneer, 18. A Scarlet Butterfly, an Ash-coloured Capricorn.
1781. Smeathman, in Phil. Trans., LXXI. 168, note. The Caterpillar of a large Capricorn Beetle, or Goat Chafer.
1828. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. xlix. 517. In the wood itself may be found the Anobidæ and the Capricorn beetles.
¶ ? Humorously used for capriccio, with a reference to horn (as in next verb).
1612. Chapman, Widows T., in Dodsley (1780), VI. 183. Have you no other Capricorns in your head, to entrap my sister in her frailty.
