capias

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UK/ˈkapɪəs/US/ˈkeɪ.pi.əs/US/ˈkæ.pi.əs/

noun

An arrest warrant; a writ commanding officers to take a specified person or persons into custody.

OriginLatin capiās →
UncommonFirst used 15th c.Scrabble 10
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Meanings

nouncapias (plural capiases)

plural capiases

  1. lawAn arrest warrant; a writ commanding officers to take a specified person or persons into custody.First known use 15th c.

    All which when Cupid heard, he by and by / In great displeasure wild a Capias / Should issue forth t'attach that scornefull lasse.

    1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
arrest warrant

Origin

  1. Latincapiās“you should seize, you are to seize”
  2. Englishcapias

Borrowed from Latin capiās (“you should seize, you are to seize”), from capiō (“to seize”).

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Caspia
Cite this entry
APA

capias. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/capias

MLA

“capias.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/capias. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “capias,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/capias.

Source: capias on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.