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cap-a-pie

or cap-à-pie

[kap-uh-pee]
|

adverb

from head to foot.

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Origin of cap-a-pie

1515–25; < Middle French de cap a pe from head to foot < Old Provençal < Latin dē capite ad pedem
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cap-a-pie

Historical Examples of cap-a-pie

  • Thus was Duncan armed, cap-a-pie, for the telegraphic controversy.

    A Captain in the Ranks

    George Cary Eggleston

  • Next day we hired two stalwart Irish squires and armed them cap-a-pie.

  • He armed himself, therefore, cap-a-pie, and undertook this dangerous parley with the alcayde.

  • Meanwhile, come down to my house the last of the week, say Friday night, and I'll have all things in cap-a-pie order for you.

  • He had said in reply, "Such a man as I ought to reign;" and thus they had armed him cap-a-pie.

    Voltaire's Romances

    Franois-Marie Arouet

British Dictionary definitions for cap-a-pie

cap-a-pie

adverb

(dressed, armed, etc) from head to foot

Word Origin for cap-a-pie

C16: from Old French
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
Word Origin and History for cap-a-pie
adj.

1520s, from Middle French cap-à-pie, literally "head to foot." The more usual French form is de pied en cap. The French words are from Latin caput "head" (see head (n.)) + pedem "foot" (see foot (n.)).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper