a. Forms: 4, 6 capcious, 5 -cyows, 6 -tius, 7 -tiose, 6– captious. [ad. F. captieux or L. captiōs-us fallacious, sophistical, f. captiōn-em (see CAPTION).]
1. Apt to catch or take one in; fitted to ensnare or perplex in argument; designed to entrap or entangle by subtlety; fallacious, sophistical.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys, 7. At Caimbrygge … Where wyttys be manye ryht capcyows And subtyl.
1530. Palsgr., 307/1. Capcious, crafty in wordes to take one in a trap, captieux.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark ii. 23 a. Wherfore they went vnto Iesus, & moued vnto hym this capcious question.
1677. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, II. III. 31. Verbal, Captiose, Sophistic Questions.
1784. Cowper, Tirocinium, 903. A captious question, sir, and yours is one, Deserves an answer similar, or none.
1871. Blackie, Four Phases, I. 113. By captious questions to worm answers out of other people.
† b. Crafty. Obs.
1590. Swinburn, Testaments, 147. This former kinde of disposition which by reason of the cunning condition appeareth to be made in hope of gaine, and is therefore properlie tearmed captious.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 779. Spiders … have given themselves … to captious taking at advantage, watching and espying their prey.
2. Apt to catch at faults or take exception to actions; disposed to find fault, cavil, or raise objections; fault-finding, cavilling, carping.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 13. Þes wordis ben soþeli seid aȝens alle capcious men.
1538. Coverdale, N. T., Prol. The world is captious, and many there be that had rather find twenty faults, than to amend one.
1561. Eden, trans. Cortes’ Arte de Navigar, Pref. ad fin. Enemies to vertue & captious of other mens doinges.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., Pref. To cut off all occasions of Cavill from captious persons.
1804. Med. Jrnl., XII. 359. The objections of the captious.
1865. Trollope, Belton Est., vi. 60. He was captious, making little difficulties, and answering him with petulance.
3. In various nonce-uses.
† a. Able to take in or contain, capacious. Obs.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, I. iii. 208. Yet in this captious, and intenible Siue, I still poure in the waters of my loue And lacke not to loose still.
† b. Alluring, taking, plausible. Obs.
1776. Sir P. Francis, in Mem. (1867), II. 55. The proposition was captious, and if made at an earlier period, might have been listened to by some of us.
c. humorous. ?
1808. W. Irving, Knickerb. (1861), 134. Little captious short pipes, two inches in length, which … could be stuck in one corner of the mouth.
