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Synonyms

capon

American  
[kay-pon, -puhn] / ˈkeɪ pɒn, -pən /

noun

  • capons
    plural
  1. a cockerel castrated to improve the flesh for use as food.


capon British  
/ ˈkeɪpən /

noun

  1. a castrated cock fowl fattened for eating

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of capon

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English capun, from Latin capōn- (stem of capō ) “castrated cock”; akin to Greek kóptein “to cut,” Old Church Slavonic skopiti “to castrate”


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

For her 117th birthday, she ate foie gras, roasted capon, cheese and a dessert similar to a baked alaska.

From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2023

From the Renaissance up to the late nineteenth century, one finds many cookbooks that suggest covering boiled meat, especially poultry such as duck or capon, with macaroni or filled pasta.

From Salon ● Jan. 4, 2023

On second thought, this could be the year of the capon.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 2, 2017

Mr Hoover once described his ouster Mr Roosevelt as a "chameleon in plaid" while FDR called his predecessor a "fat, timid capon".

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2016

"And I charge you to bring the prisoner a cup of wine and a nicely crisped capon, before he dies of hunger," Lannister said.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

“Isn’t it strange that the only people who eat capons are sixteenth-century courtiers and twenty-first-century Brooklyn hipsters?” a publisher in his thirties, at the Susan B. Anthony setting, observed as he chewed.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 21, 2018

The reburial of Richard's father was accompanied by three sung masses and a banquet where guests dined on capons, cygnets, herons and rabbits.

From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2013

The great cartoon fowls — Daffy Duck above all, of course, but also Donald and Daisy and Foghorn Leghorn and Henery Hawk — were capering capons safe from human predation.

From Time ● Oct. 31, 2013

Meanwhile, the years of superstardom were limited, because castrati tended to age badly: "Most of them become as big and fat as capons, with round and chubby hips, rumps, arms and throats."

From Slate ● Nov. 9, 2009

He helped the unfortunate King to two or three capons, and the latter sat down miserably at the end of the table, trying to swallow a few bits of them.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

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