capture

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French capture (noun), from Latin captūra. Displaced native Old English fenġ (noun) and ġefōn (verb).

noun

1. An act of capturing; a seizing by force or stratagem.
2. The securing of an object of strife or desire, as by the power of some attraction.
   the capture of a lover's heart
3. Something that has been captured; a captive.
4. The recording or storage of something for later playback.
   video capture
5. (computing) A particular match found for a pattern in a text string.
   After the match […], the text matched within the named capture is available via the Match object's Groups(name) property. 2006, Jeffrey Friedl, Mastering Regular Expressions, page 409

verb

1. (transitive) To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem.
   to capture an enemy, a vessel, or a criminal
   Arrests and prosecutions intensified after Isis captured Mosul in June, but the groundwork had been laid by an earlier amendment to Jordan’s anti-terrorism law. It is estimated that 2,000 Jordanians have fought and 250 of them have died in Syria – making them the third largest Arab contingent in Isis after Saudi Arabians and Tunisians. 27 November 2014, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian
   Being so inflexible, the railway was easy prey to road competition, and the arrival of unregulated lorry transport from farm fields to town centres quickly captured all locally generated business. November 18 2020, Howard Johnston, “The missing 'Lincs' and the sole survivor”, in Rail, page 58
2. (transitive) To store (as in sounds or image) for later revisitation.
   She captured the sounds of a subway station on tape.
   She captured the details of the fresco in a series of photographs.
   Ultimately, whether you want to shoot digital or film, the object is to give the client what they want and to capture the image you want, the way you want it to look. 2006, Michael Grecco, Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait, Amphoto Books, page 86
3. (transitive) To reproduce convincingly.
   His film adaptation captured the spirit of the original work.
   In her latest masterpiece, she captured the essence of Venice.
   Winterhalter was gifted at capturing the luxurious fabrics and hairstyles of female royalty and he was commissioned to paint portraits of the continental Empresses Eugénie of France and Elizabeth of Austria. 2015, Alison Matthews David, Fashion Victims: The Damages of Dress Past and Present, page 86
4. (transitive) To remove or take control of an opponent’s piece in a game (e.g., chess, go, checkers).
   My pawn was captured.
   He captured his opponent’s queen on the 15th move.
   How deeply ingrained capturing is in the mind of a chess master can be seen from this story. 1954, Fred Reinfeld, How to Be a Winner at Chess, Garden City, NY: Hanover House, page 63