Word.ws English Dictionary

cappabar

cappabar noun: a misappropriation of government property; embezzlement or fraud carried out in the management of a ship.

Noun

cappabar (plural not attested)

  1. (no plural, obsolete) a misappropriation of government property; embezzlement or fraud carried out in the management of a ship.
    • If e'er the Fortune of the war
      Gave him a Prize, he'd cap a bar
      Like blazes--but stand clear! that elf
      Who dared to steal besides himself.Burton, Alfred (1818), The Adventures of Johnny Newcome in the Navy, London: Methuen and Co., page 209
    • Patrick O'Brian, *The Mauritius Command.*
      disposing of His Majesty's property was an immemorial practice among His Majesty's servants … and in the Navy it went by the name of cappabar.

Forms of cappabar

alternative formcapperbar
alternative formcapabarre
alternative formcap a bar
alternative formcape bar

Origin of cappabar

Uncertain. First attested 1818 as cap a bar. Dated or obsolete by the early 20th century.

Questions about cappabar

What does cappabar mean?
Cappabar means a misappropriation of government property; embezzlement or fraud carried out in the management of a ship.
What part of speech is cappabar?
Cappabar is a noun.

Words near cappabar in the dictionary

  1. Capozzoli
  2. Capozzolis
  3. capp
  4. cappa
  5. cappa magna
  6. cappabar
  7. cappabars
  8. cappable
  9. cappadine
  10. Cappadocia
  11. Cappadocian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cappabar (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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