capital

capital
capital1
capitalness, n.
/kap"i tl/, n.
1. the city or town that is the official seat of government in a country, state, etc.: Tokyo is the capital of Japan.
2. a city regarded as being of special eminence in some field of activity: New York is the dance capital of the world.
4. the wealth, whether in money or property, owned or employed in business by an individual, firm, corporation, etc.
5. an accumulated stock of such wealth.
6. any form of wealth employed or capable of being employed in the production of more wealth.
7. Accounting.
a. assets remaining after deduction of liabilities; the net worth of a business.
b. the ownership interest in a business.
8. any source of profit, advantage, power, etc.; asset: His indefatigable drive is his greatest capital.
9. capitalists as a group or class (distinguished from labor): High taxation has reduced the spending power of capital.
adj.
10. pertaining to financial capital: capital stock.
11. principal; highly important: This guide offers suggestions of capital interest to travelers.
12. chief, esp. as being the official seat of government of a country, state, etc.: the capital city of France.
13. excellent or first-rate: a capital hotel; a capital fellow.
15. involving the loss of life: capital punishment.
16. punishable by death: a capital crime; a capital offender.
17. fatal; extremely serious: a capital error.
[1175-1225; ME; (adj.) ( < AF) < L capitalis of the head (capit-, s. of caput head, + -alis -AL1); (n.) < ML capitale wealth, n. use of neut. of capitalis (adj.)]
Syn. 4. principal, investment, assets, stock. 11. prime, primary, first. The adjectives CAPITAL, CHIEF, MAJOR, PRINCIPAL apply to a main or leading representative of a kind. CAPITAL may mean larger or more prominent; it may also suggest preeminence or excellence: capital letter, idea, virtue, etc. CHIEF means leading, highest in office or power: the chief clerk. MAJOR may refer to greatness of importance, number, or quantity: a major operation, the major part of a population. PRINCIPAL refers to most distinguished, influential, or foremost: principal officer.
Ant. 11. trivial, minor.
Usage. The noun CAPITAL1 refers to a city or town that is the seat of government; to a capital letter as opposed to a lowercase letter; and to wealth or resources. The noun CAPITOL refers primarily to the building in Washington, D.C., in which Congress sits or to similar buildings used by state legislatures.
capital2
/kap"i tl/, n. Archit.
the distinctively treated upper end of a column, pier, or the like.
[1250-1300; ME capitale head (n. use of neut. of L adj.) for L capitellum, equiv. to capit- (s. of caput) head + -ellum dim. suffix]

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I
In architecture, the crowning member of a column, pier, pilaster, or other vertical form, providing a structural support and transition for the horizontal member (entablature) or arch above.

In Classical styles, the capital is the architectural member that most readily identifies the order. Simple stone capitals have been found in the earliest known pyramids of ancient Egypt (с 2890–2686 BC), at Saqqarah.
II
In economics, the stock of resources that are used to produce other goods now and in the future.

In classical economics the three factors of production are capital, labour, and land. Capital embodies the man-made resources, which include the buildings, plant, equipment, and inventories created by all three factors. In this sense, capital goods may be contrasted with consumer goods. The creation of capital goods means that consumption is forgone, resulting in saving. The flow of saving becomes a flow of investment. Expenditures on education and training are often referred to as investment in human capital (see Gary S. Becker). Financial capital is the term given to the stocks and bonds issued in order to finance the acquisition of capital goods.
III
(as used in expressions)
Capital District of Santafé de Bogotá
opera of the capital

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      in economics, a stock of resources that may be employed in the production of goods and services. In classical economics it is one of the three factors of production, the others being labour and land. A brief treatment of capital follows. For full treatment, see capital and interest.

      Capital may be so broadly defined as to include all possible material, nonmaterial, and human inputs into a productive system, but it is usually more useful to confine the term to material assets in the hands of productive enterprises. In this sense, there are two forms of capital. money or financial capital is a fluid, intangible form used for investment. Capital goods—i.e., real or physical capital—are tangible items such as buildings, machinery, and equipment produced and used in the production of other goods and services. Money capital is raised by selling stocks and bonds in order to finance the acquisition of real capital or capital goods. Capital goods are similar to savings because both require postponing current consumption to provide for future production and consumption.

      In an accounting sense, the capital of a business firm is that part of the net worth that has not been produced by the operation of the enterprise, or, in other words, the original stock of net assets of the firm before any income is earned. The economist is more likely to speak of “real” assets, such as plant and equipment, factory and office buildings, and inventories of raw materials and of partly finished and finished goods, regardless of their financial status.

      Economists of the classical school, beginning with Adam Smith, developed the earliest theory of capital, according to which capital arose out of the excess of production over consumption. The income earned by capital is profit, the counterpart to the wages and rent earned by the other factors of production. No thoroughly satisfactory theory of capital has been presented, and since the 19th century interest in developing such a theory has flagged.

 in architecture, crowning member of a column, pier, anta, pilaster, or other columnar form, providing a structural support for the horizontal member (entablature) or arch above. In the Classical styles, the capital is the architectural member that most readily distinguishes the order.

      Two simple forms of the capital are a square wooden block called an abacus, placed on the top of a post, and an oblong block called a billet, set with its greatest dimensions parallel to the beam above. Shaping the ends of such blocks produces a laterally spreading form of capital, which can be elaborated upon by multiplication of parts, addition of moldings, and ornamentation with floral, zoomorphic, or abstract forms.

      Primitive abacus capitals were known in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and two kinds of simple stone capital have been found in the stepped-pyramid complex at Saqqārah (c. 2890–c. 2686 BC). One, a saddlelike shape, suggests bent reeds or leaves; the other, an upturned bell, derives from the papyrus plant. Later Egyptian architecture used capitals derived from such plant forms as the palm and lotus, as well as anthropomorphic forms and simple abacus shapes. Volute capitals (volute) were known in Hittite architecture in Anatolia and in Mesopotamia as early as 870 BC. Very elaborate capitals were created in Achaemenian Persia.

      Three widely used forms of the capital were created by the Greeks. The Doric (Doric order) capital consists of a square abacus surmounting a round form with an egg-shaped profile called the echinus, below which are several narrow, ridgelike moldings linking the capital with the column. The Ionic (Ionic order) capital—probably related to the volute capitals of western Asia—has a tripartite design consisting of a pair of horizontally connected volutes inserted between the abacus and echinus. The Corinthian (Corinthian order) capital is basically an abacus supported on an inverted bell surrounded by rows of stylized acanthus leaves. The Romans added the Tuscan (Tuscan order) capital, a modified form of the Doric, and the Composite (Composite order) capital, which combined Ionic volutes with the Corinthian bell shape.

      Islamic (Islamic arts) capitals, following the nonrepresentational requirement of the Muslim aesthetic, used primarily abstract forms derived from repetition of small moldings and multiplication of miniature arches. Some form of bracketed capital and a bell-shaped capital decorated with lotus motifs were used most frequently in India, China, and Japan.

      Design of capitals in medieval (Middle Ages) Europe usually stemmed from Roman sources. Cubiform, or cushion, capitals, square on top and rounded at the bottom, served as transitional forms between the angular springing of the arches and the round columns supporting them. Grotesque animals, birds, and other figurative motifs characterize capitals of the Romanesque period. At the beginning of the Gothic period, exotic features tended to disappear in favour of simple stylized foliage, crockets, and geometric moldings, particularly in France and England. During the later Middle Ages, the emphasis on clustered columns and compound piers that soared in an unbroken line to high vaults tended to decrease the importance of the capital.

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Universalium. 2010.

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