cape
Pluralcapes
Pluralcapes
- 1
- 2A point or piece of land that extends out beyond the nearby coast into a sea or lake.
Sailors dreaded rounding the cape in winter, when storms rolled in from the west.
Several rocky capes shelter the bay from the open ocean.
UsageWritten with a capital in place names: Cape Horn, Cape Cod.
- 3
Less common meanings
- 4A superhero, a fictional hero with powers beyond those of ordinary people.
The villain's lair was rigged to trap any cape foolish enough to come in alone.
Half the capes in the city signed up for the government's hero registry.
Similarsuperhero
Note
Superheroes wear capes so often that the garment has come to stand for the wearer. The slang belongs to superhero fiction and the talk around it, and it can treat heroes as a trade: April Daniels's novel Dreadnought (2017) fills a hall with booths selling bystander insurance and hypertech components to capes.
- 5To defend or praise someone or something, especially someone or something unworthy of it; usually followed by for.
I'm not going to cape for a senator who voted against his own district.
Fans kept caping for the rapper even after the leaked texts came out.
UsageSaid disapprovingly of the defender: stop caping for him.
Note
American slang drawn from the same picture as the superhero noun: someone swooping in to defend a person who may not deserve it. It nearly always takes for, and it often carries a sneer, as when Ken Makin wrote in 2016 that Barack Obama was "shamelessly caping for" Clinton.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The slang sense is American. en.wiktionary.org
- The defending sense shares the superhero imagery underlying the superhero noun. en.wiktionary.org
- In 2016, Ken Makin described Barack Obama as "shamelessly caping for" Clinton. en.wiktionary.org
- 6To provoke or draw a bull into charging in a particular direction by waving a cape.
- 7To head or point in a particular direction, or to keep to a course.
- 8To remove the skin of the head, neck, and usually shoulders from a killed animal, especially a deer, so it can be mounted as a trophy.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English cape, from Old French cap ("cape, headland"), from Latin caput ("head"). It is a doublet of capo, caput, chef and chief, and is distantly related to head and Howth.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Cape derives from Middle English cape, from Old French cap meaning 'cape, headland', from Latin caput meaning 'head'. en.wiktionary.org
- Cape is a doublet of capo, caput, chef and chief. en.wiktionary.org
- Cape is distantly related to head and Howth. en.wiktionary.org
English cape was borrowed from French cape, which traces back through Old Occitan capa to Late Latin cappa ("cape"). Superheroes’ frequent use of capes gave rise to the "superhero" sense. The verb meaning "defend, praise" draws on the image of caped heroes protecting people (compare caped crusader). English cape, capa, and cappa are doublets.