Dictionary

cap-a-pie en · ADV

Etymology

From Old French (de) cap a pié (Modern French de pied en cap).

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) From head to toe, especially of armor or other military accoutrements.
   • If twenty thousand naked Americans were not able to resist the assaults of but twenty well-armed Spaniards, I see little possibility for one honest man to defend himself against twenty thousand knaves, who are all furnished cap-a-pie with the defensive arms of worldly prudence, and the offensive, too, of craft and malice. 1661–67, Abraham Cowley, The Dangers of an Honest Man in much Company
   • I sallied forth cap-à-pie in my Madras regimentals, intending to accompany Brent to Westminster Abbey, and to take a coach at the first stand we came to. 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 129
   • Miss Thorne when fully dressed might be said to have been armed cap-a-pie, and she was always fully dressed, as far as was ever known to mortal man. 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers:

Forms