capo

views updated May 18 2018

ca·po¹ / ˈkāpō; ˈkäpō/ (also ca·po tas·to) • n. (pl. -pos) a clamp fastened across all the strings of a fretted musical instrument to raise their tuning by a chosen amount.ca·po² • n. (pl. -pos) the head of a crime syndicate, esp. the Mafia, or a branch of one.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

capo

views updated May 11 2018

capo, capotasto, capo d'astro, capodastro (It.); capodastère (Fr.), Kapotaster (Ger.). Head of the touch, i.e. the ‘nut’, or raised portion of the top of the fingerboard of a str. instr., which ‘touches’ the str. and defines their length at that end. Another name is barre (Fr.). A movable capotasto has sometimes been used (esp. in guitar playing) which can be placed at any point on the str. (in vc. playing the thumb acts as such and in the 18th cent. was sometimes so called). In USA the name capotasto is reserved for this type.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE

CAPO

views updated May 29 2018

CAPO Canadian Army Post Office
• Chief Administrative Pharmaceutical Officer

The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations FRAN ALEXANDER , PETER BLAIR , JOHN DAINTITH , ALICE GRANDISON , VALERIE ILLINGWORTH , ELIZABETH MARTIN , ANNE STIBBS , JUDY PEARSALL , and SARA TULLOCH