caper

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkeɪpɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkeɪpə/
• Rhymes: -eɪpə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: ca‧per

Etymology 1

Shortening of capriole.

Noun

caper (plural capers)

1. A playful leap or jump.
2. A jump while dancing.
3. A prank or practical joke.
4. (usually in plural) Playful behaviour.
5. A crime, especially an elaborate heist, or a narrative about such a crime.

Derived terms

• cut a caper

Translations

playful leap

• Dutch: kapriool c
• Finnish: loikka (fi)
• Italian: sobbalzo (it) m, saltellamento m
• Romanian: salt (ro) n, săritură (ro) f, tumbă (ro) f, țopăit (ro) n

• Russian: скачо́к (ru) m (skačók), прыжо́к (ru) m (pryžók), коле́нце (ru) n (kolénce)
• Spanish: cabriola (es) f
• Swedish: glädjesprång n, glädjeskutt n

crime — see crime

Verb

caper (third-person singular simple present capers, present participle capering, simple past and past participle capered)

1. To leap or jump about in a sprightly or playful manner.
2. To jump as part of a dance.
3. To engage in playful behaviour.

Translations

to jump about playfully

• Bulgarian: подскачам (bg) (podskačam), подрипвам (bg) (podripvam)
• Dutch: opspringen (nl),bokkesprong maken
• Hebrew: לקפץ‎‎ (lekapétz)
• Italian: saltellare

• Maori: pōteketeke, pōtēteke
• Romanian: sări (ro), zburda (ro), țopăi (ro)
• Russian: скака́ть (ru) (skakátʹ)
• Swedish: skutta (sv)

Etymology 2

From Dutch kaper.

Noun

caper (plural capers)

1. A vessel formerly used by the Dutch; privateer.

Translations

Dutch vessel — see privateer

Etymology 3

From Latin capparis.

Noun

caper (plural capers)

1. The pungent grayish green flower bud of the European and Oriental caper (Capparis spinosa), which is pickled and eaten.
2. A plant of the genus Capparis.

Synonyms

• (Capparis): caper bush, caper tree, caperberry

Derived terms

• caperberry

Translations

pickled bud of Capparis spinosa

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水瓜柳 (shuǐguāliǔ)

• Danish: kapers
• Dutch: kappertje (nl) n
• Estonian: kappar
• Finnish: kapris (fi)
• French: câpre (fr) f
• Georgian: ჯონჯოლი (ǯonǯoli)
• German: Kaper (de) f
• Greek: κάπαρη (el) f (kápari)
• Hungarian: kapribogyó (hu)
• Icelandic: kapers (is)

• Italian: cappero (it) m
• Norwegian: kapers pl
• Persian: کبر‎‎ (fa) (kabar)
• Polish: kapar (pl)
• Portuguese: alcaparra (pt) f
• Romanian: caperă (ro) f
• Russian: ка́перс (ru) m (kápers)
• Serbo-Croatian: kapar (sh), kapra (sh)
• Slovene: kapra (sl) f
• Spanish: alcaparra (es) f
• Swedish: kapris (sv)
• Yiddish: קאַפּער‎‎ m (kaper)

plant

• Bulgarian: каперсник m (kapersnik)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水瓜柳 (shuǐguāliǔ)

• Finnish: kapris (fi)
• German: Kapernstrauch m
• Greek: κάπαρη (el) f (kápari)
• Hungarian: kapri (hu)
• Italian: cappero (it) m

• Persian: کبر‎‎ (fa) (kabar), کبار‎‎ (fa) (kobbār)
• Polish: kapar (pl) m
• Romanian: caper (ro) m
• Russian: ка́перс (ru) m (kápers)
• Serbo-Croatian: kapar (sh), kapra (sh)
• Spanish: alcaparro (es) m
• Swedish: kapris (sv)

Further reading

• caper on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 4

Shortening of capercaillie.

Noun

caper (plural capers)

1. (Scotland) The capercaillie.

Translations

capercaillie — see capercaillie

Anagrams

• Pacer, crape, pacer, recap

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French

Etymology

English cap

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.pe/

Verb

caper

1. (finance) to cap (set a limit to)
2. (sports) to cap (award a player a cap for playing for their national team)

Conjugation

  Conjugation of caper (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		caper			avoir capé
gerund		en capant			en ayant capé
present participle		capant /ka.pɑ̃/
past participle		capé /ka.pe/
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	cape /kap/	capes /kap/	cape /kap/	capons /ka.pɔ̃/	capez /ka.pe/	capent /kap/
	imperfect	capais /ka.pɛ/	capais /ka.pɛ/	capait /ka.pɛ/	capions /ka.pjɔ̃/	capiez /ka.pje/	capaient /ka.pɛ/
	past historic1	capai /ka.pe/	capas /ka.pa/	capa /ka.pa/	capâmes /ka.pam/	capâtes /ka.pat/	capèrent /ka.pɛʁ/
	future	caperai /ka.pʁe/	caperas /ka.pʁa/	capera /ka.pʁa/	caperons /ka.pʁɔ̃/	caperez /ka.pʁe/	caperont /ka.pʁɔ̃/
	conditional	caperais /ka.pʁɛ/	caperais /ka.pʁɛ/	caperait /ka.pʁɛ/	caperions /ka.pə.ʁjɔ̃/	caperiez /ka.pə.ʁje/	caperaient /ka.pʁɛ/
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	cape /kap/	capes /kap/	cape /kap/	capions /ka.pjɔ̃/	capiez /ka.pje/	capent /kap/
	imperfect1	capasse /ka.pas/	capasses /ka.pas/	capât /ka.pa/	capassions /ka.pa.sjɔ̃/	capassiez /ka.pa.sje/	capassent /ka.pas/
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	cape /kap/	—	capons /ka.pɔ̃/	capez /ka.pe/	—
1literary tenses

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *kápros (“buck, he-goat”); see also Old Norse hafr (“he-goat”), Old English hæfr, Welsh gafr, Old Irish gabor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.per/, [ˈka.pɛr]

Noun

caper m (genitive caprī); second declension

1. a male goat
2. vocative singular of caper

Inflection

Second declension, nominative singular in -er.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	caper	caprī
genitive	caprī	caprōrum
dative	caprō	caprīs
accusative	caprum	caprōs
ablative	caprō	caprīs
vocative	caper1	caprī

¹May also be capre.

Synonyms

• (male goat): hircus

Derived terms

• caprimulgus

Related terms

• capellus
• capra

Descendants

• Italian: capro
• Spanish: cabro, cabrón

References

• caper in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• caper in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• caper in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français [Illustrated Latin-French Dictionary], Hachette
• caper in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• caper in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

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Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin capere, present active infinitive of capiō.

Verb

caper

1. to seize

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

   Conjugation of caper

		simple			compound
infinitive		caper			avoir capé
gerund		en capant			Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle		capant
past participle		capé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (may be i' before a vowel)	tu	il	nous	vous	ilz, elles
simple tenses	present	cape	capes	cape	capons	capez	capent
	imperfect	capois, capoys	capois, capoys	capoit, capoyt	capions, capyons	capiez, capyez	capoient, capoyent
	past historic	capa	capas	capa	capasmes	capastes	caperent
	future	caperai, caperay	caperas	capera	caperons	caperez	caperont
	conditional	caperois, caperoys	caperois, caperoys	caperoit, caperoyt	caperions, caperyons	caperiez, caperyez	caperoient, caperoyent
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que ie	que tu	qu'il	que nous	que vous	qu'ilz, qu'elles
simple tenses	present	cape	capes	cape	capons	capez	capent
	imperfect	capasse	capasses	capast	capassions	capassiez	capassent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	cape	—	capons	capez	—

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

caper m

1. indefinite plural of cape