Word.ws English Dictionary

capernosity

capernosity noun: the meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include.

Noun

capernosity (uncountable)

  1. (Ireland, humorous, literary) The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include
    • Besides, my grandmother, who lived at the top of the next house, was a lady of capernosity and function. She had money and lay in bed all day, drinking porter or malt, and taking pinches of snuff, and talking to the neighbours that would call up to tell her the news of the day.1953 Easter, Brendan Behan, "The Confirmation Suit"; in The Standard p.5; reprinted in Brendan Behan's Island; An Irish Sketchbook, Hutchinson, (London), 1962, page 148
    • … in Howth they have a paper of their own, in which is reported the wedding of a girl from the Hill. The affair was carried out with function and capernosity, by all accounts …1955 June 4, Brendan Behan, "It's Torca Hill for beauty" The Irish Press, reprinted in Hold your hour and have another (1963), pages 142-3
  2. (Ireland, humorous, literary) capability and generosity
  3. (Ireland, humorous, literary) competence, flair
  4. (Ireland, humorous, literary) peevishness, ill temper

Examples of capernosity in a sentence

  • Myself and my brothers joined in this [singing], with function and capernosity, as true little Republicans …1955 September 3, Brendan Behan, "Nuts from the Crimean War" The Irish Press, reprinted in Hold your hour and have another (1963) page 70
  • Full of capernosity and function at 6 p.m.2004, Bryan MacMahon, Hero Town, page 137:
  • Ragged embers, horn of an anvil, hovering bellows, a tongs of function and capernosity.2008, Tom MacIntyre, Find the Lady, page 18:

Origin of capernosity

Coined by Brendan Behan, using the learned suffix -osity. Augustine Martin suggests Blend of capability + generosity. Barry Baldwin suggests a link with Scots capernoity (“befuddled”) or Latin caper (“goat”).

Questions about capernosity

What does capernosity mean?
Capernosity means the meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include.
How do you use capernosity in a sentence?
Myself and my brothers joined in this [singing], with function and capernosity, as true little Republicans …
What part of speech is capernosity?
Capernosity is a noun.

Words near capernosity in the dictionary

  1. Capernaitically
  2. Capernaitish
  3. Capernaum
  4. capernoitie
  5. capernoities
  6. capernosity
  7. Capernwray
  8. Caperquin
  9. capers
  10. capersome
  11. Capertee

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: capernosity (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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