capture

plural captures

1. countableuncountableAn act of capturing; a seizing by force or stratagem.

   even with regard to captures made at sea

   1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC

2. countableuncountableThe securing of an object of strife or desire, as by the power of some attraction.

   the capture of a lover’s heart

3. countableuncountableSomething that has been captured; a captive.
4. countableuncountableThe recording or storage of something for later playback.

   video capture

5. countableuncountableregular expressionscomputingA 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

present singular third person captures · participle present capturing · participle past captured · past captured

1. transitiveTo take control of; to seize by force or stratagem.

   to capture an enemy, a vessel, or a criminal

   3 more examples

   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.

   2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian

   […]I said it was because Tillerson hadn't filled the subordinate ranks with appointees who would advance the Administration's policies and that he had, in effect, been captured by the careerists.

   2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 29

   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.

   2020 November 18, Howard Johnston, “The missing 'Lincs' and the sole survivor”, in Rail, page 58

2. figurativelytransitiveTo take hold of.

   The paintings in the gallery really captured my imagination.

   Synonyms: catch, grab, seize

3. transitiveTo store (as in sounds or image) for later revisitation.

   She captured the sounds of a subway station on tape.

   2 more examples

   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, →ISBN, page 86

4. transitiveTo reproduce convincingly.

   His film adaptation captured the spirit of the original work.

   2 more examples

   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, →ISBN, page 86

5. transitiveTo remove or take control of an opponent’s piece in a game (e.g., chess, go, checkers).

   My pawn was captured.

   2 more examples

   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