Caput

//kəˈpʊt// noun, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The head.
  2. 2
    the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains wordnet
  3. 3
    A knob-like protuberance or capitulum.
  4. 4
    a headlike protuberance on an organ or structure wordnet
  5. 5
    The top or superior part of a thing.
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  1. 6
    The council or ruling body of the University of Cambridge prior to the constitution of 1856. UK

    "D. has been engaged, he tells me, through a course of laborious years, in an investigation into all curious matter connected with the two Universities; and has lately lit upon a MS. collection of charters, relative to C⁠⸺, by which he hopes to settle some disputed points—particularly that long controversy between them as to priority of foundation. The ardor with which he engages in these liberal pursuits, I am afraid, has not met with all the encouragement it deserved, either here, or at C⁠⸺. Your caputs, and heads of colleges, care less than any body else about these questions."

  2. 7
    Ellipsis of caput succedaneum. abbreviation, alt-of, colloquial, ellipsis

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin caput (“the head”). Doublet of cape, capo, chef, and chief, and distantly of head and Howth.

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