Also 4 capcioun. [ad. L. captiōn-em taking, f. capt- ppl. stem of capĕre to take. Cf. OF. capcion, -tion.]
1. Taking, catching, seizure, capture. Now rare.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Peter ii. 12. Beestes, kyndeli in to capcioun [Vulg. in captionem], or takinge.
1680. Sess. Admir., 18 Feb., in Beawes, Lex Mercat., 238. A caption in order to an adjudication.
1689. Treaty, in Magens, Insurances (1755), II. 471. Ships present at the Caption.
1813. Monthly Mag., XXXVI. 14. To handle is to exercise the instrument of caption.
1886. Pall Mall Gaz., 3 June, 16/1. (Advt.) Mineral water … an improved method of caption, by which dilution is avoided.
b. Law. Arrest or apprehension by judicial process. (esp. in Scotch law.)
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., Table, 70. The forme of the breive of caption of ane debtour.
1635. Pagitt, Christianogr., III. (1636), 35. Letters of Caption sent forth against the said Prebend.
1702. J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., II. III. x. (1748), 431. The last Step of Personal Diligence is called a Caption, which is a Warrant to seize the Debtor’s Person.
1739. Col. Rec. Penn., IV. 391. Ye Day and Cause of his Caption and Detention.
182[?]. Scott, Rob Roy, Introd. Sentenced by letters of horning and caption.
1837. New Month. Mag., XLVII. 310. The caption of some of the most violent appeased the riot.
† 2. The action of cavilling or taking exception; an objection or cavil; fallacious or captious argument; a quibble, sophism. (L. captio.) Obs.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learning, II. xiv. § 6. 55. The degenerate and corrupt vse is for Caption and contradiction.
1622–62. Heylin, Cosmogr., Introd. (1674), 2/1. Not to spend more time in answering so vain a Caption.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., II. 84. How causelesse is the Caption of the Papists at the Consecration of Matthew Parker.
a. 1734. North, Lives, I. 365. He … showing them the proclamation, asked if they could find any caption to be made upon it.
3. Law. ‘That part of a legal instrument, as a commission, indictment, etc., which shows where, when, and by what authority it is taken, found, or executed’ (Tomlins, Law Dict., 1809). This appears to be short for ‘certificate or note of caption or taking’; and it is sometimes used for the ‘making or execution’ of this certificate.
1670. Blount, Law Dict., s.v. Caption (Captio) When a Commission is executed, and the Commissioners names subscribed to a Certificate, declaring when and where the Commission was executed, that is called the Caption.
1790. Dallas, Amer. Law Rep., I. 131. The time from which they are bound: whether from the caption or from the inrolment of the recognizance.
1818. Cruise, Digest, V. 123. Unless the caption of such fine be before one of the justices or barons.
1885. J. Woodcock, in Law Times, LXXIX. 233/1. A customary tenant … must attend before the steward to be sworn to the caption.
The foregoing is sometimes explained as ‘the beginning or heading of a warrant, commission, or indictment,’ whence comes
4. The heading of a chapter, section, or newspaper article. (Chiefly used in U.S.)
1848. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., Caption: This legal term is used in the newspapers where an Englishman would say title, head, or heading.
1854. N. & Q., Ser. I. IX. 245/1. [A review] having three works as the caption of the article.
1865. Grosart, Palmer’s Mem., Introd. 21. Professor De Morgan, in our day, is delighting the readers of the Athenæum with the treasures of his out-of-the-way mathematical reading, under the caption, ‘A Budget of Paradoxes.’
1879. G. Prescott, Sp. Telephone, 111. A short article … in … this journal under the caption ‘Galvanic Music.’
