|Origin:||cappa 'covering for the head, cloak', perhaps from Latin caput 'head'|
cap1 S3 [countable]
a type of flat hat that has a curved part sticking out at the front, and is often worn as part of a uniform:
a baseball cap
old men in flat caps
a chauffeur's peaked cap
a covering that fits very closely to your head:
a swimming cap
a shower cap
a type of simple hat that fits very closely to your head, worn especially by women in the past:
a white lace cap
a protective covering that you put on the end or top of an object [= top]:
Make sure you put the cap back on the pen.
a bottle cap
an upper limit that is put on the amount of money that someone can earn, spend, or borrow:
a cap on local council spending
if a sports person wins a cap or is given a cap, he or she is chosen to play for their country:
He won his first England cap against Wales in 1994.
a sports person who has played for his or her country:
Mason is one of two new caps in the team.
a small paper container with explosive inside it, used especially in toy guns
a contraceptive made of a round piece of rubber that a woman puts inside her vagina [= diaphragm]
7 British English go hat in hand American English
to ask for money or help in a very respectful way, from someone who has a lot more power than you:
Elderly people should receive a heating allowance every winter, instead of having to go cap in hand to the government.