capstone

English

Etymology

From Middle English capston; equivalent to cap +‎ stone.

Noun

capstone (plural capstones)

1. Any of the stones making up the top layer of a wall; a coping stone.
2. (figurative) A crowning achievement, culmination or finishing touch.
   • 1904, Guy Wetmore Carryl, Far from the Maddening Girls, chapter 5

     “You see, I’ve never had a girl friend,” I added, by way of topping the obelisk of silliness with the capstone of fatuity.

   • 1969, NASA, The Post-Apollo Space Program: Directions for the Future

     Success of the Apollo program has been the capstone to a series of significant accomplishments for the United States in space in a broad spectrum of manned and unmanned exploration missions and in the application of space techniques for the benefit of man.

Translations

any of the stones making up the top layer of a wall

• German: Mauerkronenstein m
• Greek: επιστέγασμα (el) n (epistégasma)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Manx: clagh vullee f

a crowning achievement

• Danish: krone på værket c
• Dutch: bekroning (nl) f
• German: Höhepunkt (de) m, Krönung (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: επιστέγασμα (el) n (epistégasma)
• Italian: coronamento (it) m
• Russian: венец (ru) m (venec)

Synonyms

• copestone

See also

• keystone

Anagrams

• caponets, opencast, patonces, potances