All 4 Uses of
capital
in
A Tale of Two Cities
Uses with a very common or rare meaning:
- Daring burglaries by armed men, and highway robberies, took place in the capital itself every night; families were publicly cautioned not to go out of town without removing their furniture to upholsterers' warehouses for security; the highwayman in the dark was a City tradesman in the light, and, being recognised and challenged by his fellow-tradesman whom he stopped in his character of "the Captain," gallantly shot him through the head and rode away; the mail was waylaid by seven…†
Chpt 1.1
- In this state they traversed without change, except of horses and pace, all the miredeep leagues that lay between them and the capital.†
Chpt 3.1
- A revolutionary tribunal in the capital, and forty or fifty thousand revolutionary committees all over the land; a law of the Suspected, which struck away all security for liberty or life, and delivered over any good and innocent person to any bad and guilty one; prisons gorged with people who had committed no offence, and could obtain no hearing; these things became the established order and nature of appointed things, and seemed to be ancient usage before they were many weeks old.†
Chpt 3.4
- You know it is a capital crime, to mourn for, or sympathise with, a victim of the Guillotine.†
Chpt 3.12 *
Definition:
-
(meaning too common or rare to warrant focus) Capital has many other senses including an uppercase letter (such as B in contrast to b); and anything that is more important than other similar things -- especially a city from which a nation is governed. Capital is often confused with capitol which is the building (or buildings) from which a nation is governed. See a comprehensive dictionary for other senses of capital.