A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1666-1693
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Caper, n. Also: keaper. [Du. and Flem. kaper, f. kapen to capture, rob, plunder.]
1. A privateer. Also attrib. with vessel. 1666 Nicoll Diary 448.
The warris betwixt the Inglisches and Hollanders … lytill actit by sea, except by caperis and robberis 1666 Lamont Diary 193.
Ther was divers persons in Scotland that contributed to the reaking out of lesser vessels to be capers 1666 Ib. 196.
Being a great tempest of wynd, a caper vessell … did spleit upon the sands of Kirkaldie 1680-6 Lauder Observes 253.
The severall processes about capers, … deserve a treatise apart 1681 Colvil Whig's Suppl. (1695) 23.
Capers bringing in their prizes 1693 Seafield Corr. 104.
A wessel … was chesed in … with a caper. There is just nou werey maney keapers on this cost
2. A captor (in privateering). 1685 Fountainhall Decis. I. 333.
The famous … cause of the capers of the two prize Danish ships 1685 Ib.
That the capers had probable gronnds to bring them up
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"Caper n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 10 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/caper>
