SMALL CAPITAL • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Small capital

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/smɔl kˈæpətəl/ Listen

noun

capital n.

1.

(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.

2.

(Geog.) The seat of government; the chief city or town in a country; a metropolis. "A busy and splendid capital"

3.

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.

4.

(Polit. Econ.) That portion of the produce of industry, which may be directly employed either to support human beings or to assist in production. Note: When wealth is used to assist production it is called capital. The capital of a civilized community includes fixed capital (i.e. buildings, machines, and roads used in the course of production and exchange) and circulating capital (i.e., food, fuel, money, etc., spent in the course of production and exchange).

5.

Anything which can be used to increase one's power or influence. "He tried to make capital out of his rival's discomfiture."

6.

(Fort.) An imaginary line dividing a bastion, ravelin, or other work, into two equal parts.

7.

A chapter, or section, of a book. (Obs.) "Holy St. Bernard hath said in the 59th capital."

8.

(Print.) See Capital letter, under Capital, a.

Active capital. See under Active,

Small capital (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.

To live on one's capital, to consume one's capital without producing or accumulating anything to replace it.

See images of 'Small capital'

Etymology of 'Small capital'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Small capital" Quotes from Famous Books

... half-ruinous house, their dogs at their side, and their gaze fixed upon the river that rolled beneath them. The same thoughts probably occupied them all: they were now left in a land which looked much like a desert, with Heaven for their aid, and no other resources than a small capital, and their own energies and truth. The great game of life was now to begin in earnest, and the question was, how it should be played with success? Individual activity and exertion were absolutely necessary to ensure good fortune; and warmly ...

— The Bushman - Life in a New Country • Edward Wilson Landor

... myself that I had a mighty courage and no small capital of cheerfulness. I went to try my luck with the newspapers of Philadelphia, and there one of them kept me in suspense a week to no purpose. When I came back reduced in cash and ...

— Eben Holden - A Tale of the North Country • Irving Bacheller

... way of arms and ammunition, to be compelled to beat back hostile Indians. Under the provisions of the government of the United States, they are improving, but yet, even now, they have not the protection which they require, and should receive. In their territory it takes a daring man to venture his small capital in raising stock. To be sure, claims are allowed them by Congress for the losses by Indian depredations, but these usually fall into the hands of speculators, and in reality, assist the people to a very trifling extent. It can be said, ...

— The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson, the Nestor of the Rocky Mountains, from Facts Narrated by Himself • De Witt C. Peters

... for their analogical import. They indicate a larger truth. Man grows by conquering his limitations—by subduing new territory and occupying it. He commences life on a very small capital; his force yet lies outside of him, scattered up and down in the world like his wealth—in rocks, in trees, in storms and flood, in dangers, in difficulties, in hardships,—in short, in whatever opposes his progress and puts on a threatening ...

— Our Friend John Burroughs • Clara Barrus

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