Capuchin \Cap`u*chin"\, n. [F. capucin a monk who wears a cowl, fr. It. cappuccio hood. See Capoch.]

1. (Eccl.) A Franciscan monk of the austere branch established in 1526 by Matteo di Baschi, distinguished by wearing the long pointed cowl or capoch of St. Francis.

A bare-footed and long-bearded capuchin. --Sir W. Scott.

2. A garment for women, consisting of a cloak and hood, resembling, or supposed to resemble, that of capuchin monks.

3. (Zo["o]l.)
   (a) A long-tailed South American monkey (Cabus capucinus), having the forehead naked and wrinkled, with the hair on the crown reflexed and resembling a monk's cowl, the rest being of a grayish white; -- called also capucine monkey, weeper, sajou, sapajou, and sai.
   (b) Other species of Cabus, as C. fatuellus (the brown or horned capucine.), C. albifrons (the cararara), and C. apella.
   (c) A variety of the domestic pigeon having a hoodlike tuft of feathers on the head and sides of the neck.

Capuchin nun, one of an austere order of Franciscan nuns which came under Capuchin rule in 1538. The order had recently been founded by Maria Longa.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)