Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CA-PIT'U-LATE, v.i. [from capitulum, supra.]

1. To draw up a writing in chapters, heads or articles. – Shak. [But this sense is not usual.]
2. To surrender, as an army or garrison, to an enemy, by treaty, in which the terms of surrender are specified and agreed to by the parties. The term is applicable to a garrison or to the inhabitants of a besieged place, or to an army or troops in any situation in which they are subdued or compelled to submit to a victorious enemy.