to double a cape
Preserved but no longer current.
Said of a ship that sails round or to the other side of a cape; its course is, as it were, bent back on itself. What capes he doubled, and what continent, The gulfs and straits that strangely he had past. DRYDEN: Ideas, stanza 1.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to double a cape” mean?
Said of a ship that sails round or to the other side of a cape; its course is, as it were, bent back on itself. What capes he doubled, and what continent, The gulfs and straits that strangely he had past. DRYDEN: Ideas, stanza 1.
Is “to double a cape” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.