Definition of "capture" in English

noun

1. An act of capturing; a seizing by force or stratagem.

2. The securing of an object of strife or desire, as by the power of some attraction.

   • the capture of a lover’s heart

3. Something that has been captured; a captive.

4. The recording or storage of something for later playback.

   • video capture

5. (computing, regular expressions) A particular match found for a pattern in a text string.

verb

1. (transitive) To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem.

   • to capture an enemy, a vessel, or a criminal

2. (transitive, figurative) To take hold of.

   • The paintings in the gallery really captured my imagination.

3. (transitive) To store (as in sounds or image) for later revisitation.

   • She captured the sounds of a subway station on tape.
   • She captured the details of the fresco in a series of photographs.

4. (transitive) To reproduce convincingly.

   • His film adaptation captured the spirit of the original work.
   • In her latest masterpiece, she captured the essence of Venice.

5. (transitive) To remove or take control of an opponent’s piece in a game (e.g., chess, go, checkers).

   • My pawn was captured.
   • He captured his opponent’s queen on the 15th move.