Cape foot, noun phrase

Origin:
EnglishShow more Cape + English foot.
1. Obsolete except in historical contexts A unit of land measurement: see quotation 1974. See also Cape rood.
1861 E. Prov. Yr Bk & Annual Register 61Since 12 Cape feet are equal to 1 Cape rood, 1 English mile is equal to nearly 425.944 Cape roods.
1866 Cape Town Dir. 119Land Measure, The ratio of the Cape land-measure foot to the British Imperial foot was investigated by the Land-measure Commissioners...They ascertained that 1,000 Cape feet are equal to 1,033 British Imperial feet.
1893 Brown’s S. Afr. 1512 Cape feet = 1 Cape Rood = 12.396 Eng. ft.
1926 M. Nathan S. Afr. from Within 310The English denominations of coinage and weights and measures, prevail throughout the Union, except that,..the ‘Cape’ foot differs in length from the English foot, being .3148 of a metre (a metre being equal to 1.0936 yards).
1931 G. Beet Grand Old Days 94The area of the mine is equal to 3,482 claims, or 900 Cape square feet. In English measurement, this represents 78 acres.
1951 H.C. Bosman in L. Abrahams Unto Dust (1963) 178By that time the sun was sitting not more than about two Cape feet above a tall koppie on the horizon.
1974 McGraw-Hill Dict. of Scientific & Technical Terms 219Cape foot,..A unit of length equal to 1.033 feet or to 0.3148584 meter.
2. In Cape Dutch furniture: the tapering foot of a turned table- or chair-leg, having a broader ring or ‘bracelet’ just above it. See also Cape Dutch adjectival phrase sense 2 b.
1959 L.E. Van Onselen Cape Antique Furn. 20The foot which raises it (sc. the armoire) from the floor is a turned foot of stinkwood. This foot is often found supporting Cape furniture and as it does not resemble any foot of overseas origin it is perhaps practical to term it a distinctive Cape foot.
1965 M.G. Atmore Cape Furn. 73The circular fluted leg terminating in a ‘Cape’ foot was used in a slender form by Sheraton in about 1800.
1971 [see Baraitser & Obholzer quot. at jonkmanskas].
A unit of land measurement: see quotation 1974.
the tapering foot of a turned table- or chair-leg, having a broader ring or ‘bracelet’ just above it.
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obsolete or obsolescent
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Cape Floral Kingdom, noun phrasen. phr.Cape gooseberry, noun phrasen. phr.
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