cap

Universal Words noun, verb noun hat 1 a type of soft flat hat with a PEAK (= a hard curved part sticking out in front). Caps are worn especially by men and boys, often as part of a uniform: a school cap seealsoBASEBALLCAP, CLOTHCAP, MOBCAP 2 (usually in compounds) a soft hat that fits closely and is worn for a particular purpose: a shower cap 3 a soft hat with a square flat top worn by some university teachers and students at special ceremonies compareMORTARBOARD in sport 4 (BrE) a cap given to sb who is chosen to play for a school, country, etc.; a player chosen to play for their country, etc: He won his first cap (= was first chosen to play) for England against France. * There are three new caps in the side. on pen / bottle 5 a protective cover or top for a pen, bottle, etc: a lens cap seealsoFILLERCAP, HUBCAP limit on money 6 an upper limit on an amount of money that can be spent or borrowed by a particular institution or in a particular situation: The government has placed a cap on local council spending. in toy guns 7 a small paper container with explosive powder inside it, used especially in toy guns for woman 8 (BrE) = DIAPHRAGM(2) seealsoICECAP, THINKINGCAP IDIOMS go cap in hand (to sb) (BrE) (AmE go hat in hand) to ask sb for sth, especially money, in a very polite way that makes you seem less important: There's no way he'll go cap in hand to his brother. if the cap fits (, wear it) (BrE) (AmE if the shoe fits ), wear it() (spoken) if you feel that a remark applies to you, you should accept it and take it as a warning or criticism: I didn't actually say that you were lazy, but if the cap fits... moreatFEATHERn. verb (-pp-) [VN] cover top 1 [usuallypassive] ~ sth (with sth) to cover the top or end of sth with sth: mountains capped with snow * snow-capped mountains limit money 2 [oftenpassive] (especially BrE) to limit the amount of money that can be charged for sth or spent on sth: a capped mortgage beat 3 (especially BrE) to say or do sth that is funnier, more impressive, etc. than sth that has been said or done before: What an amazing story. Can anyone cap that? tooth 4 [usuallypassive] to put an artificial covering on a tooth to make it look more attractive: He's had his front teeth capped. SYNCROWN in sport 5 [usuallypassive] (BrE) to choose sb to play football, cricket, etc. in their country's national team: He has been capped more than 30 times for Wales. IDIOMS to cap / top it all (spoken) used to introduce the final piece of information that is worse than the other bad things that you have just mentioned: And then, to cap it all, it started to rain!