capitalize v
1. draw advantages from; "he is capitalizing on her mistake"; "she took advantage of his absence to meet her lover" [syn: capitalise, take advantage]
2. supply with capital, as of a business by using a combination of capital used by investors and debt capital provided by lenders [syn: capitalise]
3. write in capital letters [syn: capitalise]
4. compute the present value of a business or an income [syn: capitalise]
5. consider expenditures as capital assets rather than expenses [syn: capitalise]
6. convert (a company's reserve funds) into capital [syn: capitalise]

Capitalize \Cap"i*tal*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Capitalized; p. pr. & vb. n. Capitalizing.]
1. To convert into capital, or to use as capital.
2. To compute, appraise, or assess the capital value of (a patent right, an annuity, etc.)
3. To print in capital letters, or with an initial capital.

Capitalise (British spelling) or capitalize (North American spelling) means to make one or more characters upper case. The first letter of a sentence is capitalised in many languages, as are the first letters of proper nouns such as names of people and places. In German, however, all nouns are capitalized. It is the only language to do that.

The homonym capitalize is a different word, and means "to fully fund as an investment".

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