caption

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to provide with a caption, as of a photograph or a drawing

   The photographer captioned the image with a short description.

2. 2
   noun

   A title or brief explanation attached to an illustration, cartoon, user interface element, etc.

   Some of the photographs are new and interesting, but many captions are amateurish, uninformative or simply careless.

3. 3
   noun

   A piece of text appearing on screen as a subtitle or other part of a film or broadcast, describing dialogue (and sometimes other sound) for viewers who cannot hear.

   (theater, performance production) By analogy, text in a similar system used in a performance venue for transcription of a live event.

4. 4
   noun

   A seizure or capture, especially of tangible property (chattel).

   1919 Thomas Welburn Hughes. A treatise on criminal law and procedure. The Bobbs-Merril Co., Indianapolis, IN, USA. Sec. 557 (p. 378). The caption and asportation must be felonious.

5. 5
   verb

   To add captions to a text or illustration.

   Only once the drawing is done will the letterer caption it.

6. 6
   noun

   brief description accompanying an illustration

7. 7
   noun

   translation of foreign dialogue of a movie or TV program

8. 8
   noun

   taking exception

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin captiō (“deception, fraud”), from the past participle of capiō (“to take, to seize”) (English capture). Compare Middle English capcioun (“seizure, capture”).