Cap`u*chin" (?), n. [F.
capucin a monk who wears a cowl, fr. It. cappuccio
hood. See Capoch.]
1. (Eccl.) A Franciscan monk of
the austere branch established in 1526 by Matteo di Baschi,
distinguished by wearing the long pointed cowl or capoch of St.
Francis.
A bare-footed and long-bearded
capuchin.
Sir W. Scott.
2. A garment for women, consisting of a
cloak and hood, resembling, or supposed to resemble, that of
capuchin monks.
3. (Zoöl.) (a)
A long-tailed South American monkey (Cabus
capucinus), having the forehead naked and wrinkled, with the
hair on the crown reflexed and resembling a monk's cowl, the rest
being of a grayish white; -- called also capucine monkey,
weeper, sajou, sapajou, and
sai. (b) Other species of
Cabus, as C. fatuellus (the brown or
horned capucine.), C. albifrons (the
cararara), and C. apella. (c)
A variety of the domestic pigeon having a hoodlike tuft of
feathers on the head and sides of the neck.
Capuchin nun, one of an austere order of
Franciscan nuns which came under Capuchin rule in 1538. The order
had recently been founded by Maria Longa.
