Word of the Day

: August 30, 2014

cap-a-pie

adverb kap-uh-PEE

What It Means

: from head to foot

cap-a-pie in Context

The birthday girl-dressed cap-a-pie as a princess, from tiara to sequined slippers-waited excitedly for her guests to arrive.

"It's only in cartoons that crows have yellow beaks and feet. They are of one shade cap-a-pie, black as midnight and fleet of wing." - M. D. Harmon, Portland Press Herald (Maine), January 5, 2004

Did You Know?

Think of a medieval knight riding off to battle completely encased (from head to foot, as it were) in armor. Knights thus outfitted were said to be "armed cap-a-pie." The term cap-a-pie, which has been used in English since at least the 16th century, descends from the Middle French phrase de cap a pé, meaning "from head to foot." Nowadays, it is generally extended to more figurative armor, as in "armed cap-a-pie against criticism." Cap-a-pie has also been credited with parenting another English phrase. Some people think the expression "apple-pie order," meaning "perfect order," may have originated as a corruption of "cap-a-pie order." The evidence for that theory is far from orderly, however, and it must be regarded as speculative.