Capitalise

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To write a letter or word starting with a capital letter ; to supply a business or project with funds or capital
2. To represent the first letter of a word using uppercase form ; to furnish financial resources for an enterprise
3. To begin a word with a large letter to show proper name or importance ; to invest money into a company or undertaking

Etymology: "Capitalise" is the British spelling of "capitalize," and the two share a straightforward history. The verb is built from "capital," which traces back to Latin "capitalis," meaning "of the head," itself from "caput," or "head." The Latin sense of "capital" as a head or chief thing gave English both the typographic meaning of a large letter, the one that begins a sentence or name, and the financial sense of wealth held as the principal sum of a business. The suffix "-ize," or "-ise" in British spelling, comes from Greek through Latin and turns a noun into a verb meaning to make, treat, or give something a particular quality. So "to capitalise" literally means to make something capital: to write its first letter as a head letter, or to supply it with the capital, the money at the head of an enterprise, needed to get it going.

Synonyms: capitalize, utilize, exploit