c. 1200, "one who baptizes," also (with capital B-) a title of John, the forerunner of Christ; see baptize + -ist. As "member of a Protestant sect that believes in adult baptism upon profession of faith," generally by full immersion (with capital B-), attested from 1654; their opponents called them anabaptists (see Anabaptist).

type of framework shaped like the capital letter "A," by 1889; as a type of building construction in this shape from 1932.

Russian capital, named for the Moskva River, the name of which is of unknown origin. Moscow mule vodka cocktail is attested from 1950.

southern Vietnamese city, capital of former South Vietnam, named for its river, which bears a name of uncertain origin.

capital of Portugal, Portuguese Lisboa, perhaps from a Phoenician word; the derivation from Ulysses probably is folk-etymology.

capital of Oman, from Arabic Masqat, said to mean "hidden" (it is isolated from the interior by hills).

"embracing and caressing a member of the opposite sex," 1825; see neck (v.). In architecture, "moldings near the capital of a column."

so named 1868, from Japanese to "east" + kyo "capital;" its earlier name was Edo, literally "estuary."

"important vein of an ore or mineral in rock," 1849, from mother (n.1) + lode (n.); said to be a translation of Mexican Spanish veta madre, a name given to rich silver veins. The American use is first in reference to a conspicuous vein of quartz rich in gold discovered during the gold rush in the Sierra Nevada of California. The colloquial or figurative sense of "richest source of something" is by 1916.

from 330 C.E. to 1930 the name of what is now Istanbul and formerly was Byzantium, the city on the European side of the Bosphorus that served as the former capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, from Greek Konstantinou polis "Constantine's city," named for Roman emperor Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (see Constantine), who transferred the Roman capital there.