uncapture

English

Etymology

A back-formation from uncaptured; equivalent to un- +‎ capture.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈkæpt͡ʃə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -æptʃə(ɹ)

Verb

uncapture (third-person singular simple present uncaptures, present participle uncapturing, simple past and past participle uncaptured)

1. (rare) To perform the reverse of a capture, especially in chess variants such as Retrochess.
   • 1967, The British Chess Magazine‎, volumes 86-87, Trubner & Company, page 28:

     Finally, uncapture WhP on h file. So in the diagram position Black's last move cannot be (a) P(g3) x P(f2) as white pawn must retract to g2 first; or (b) P(b6)xc5, as WhP has been captured on h file to allow promotion of BhP without a capture, […]

   • 1998 November 13, Lewis Stiller, “Multilinear Algebra and Chess Endgames”, in Richard J. Nowakowski, editor, Games of No Chance‎, Cambridge University Press, page 173:

     Unmoving pieces cannot capture, but they can uncapture, leaving a piece in their wake. This is simulated via interhyperboard communication. The uncapture operation can be computed by using outer products, corresponding to the parallel broadcast, or spread broadcast.

   • 2004, Equal Opportunities Review‎, numbers 125-136, Industrial Relations Services, page 28:

     In April when asking him to uncapture a tax return he said: 'You don't want to do that again because next time it would be a smacked bottom'. Also in April, I asked whether the conservatory that he was having built was a big one, he raised his eyebrows and replied, 'Cor, yes!'.

Noun

uncapture (plural uncaptures)

1. (rare) The act of uncapturing.
   • 1862, George Bradshaw, Bradshaw's through routes, overland guide, and handbook to India, Egypt, Turkey, Persia, China, Australia, and New Zealand.‎, W.J. Adams, page 322:

     The reports of the medical officers state that of 773 convicts who had arrived up to the 16th June, 1858, there had occurred 64 deaths In hospitals ; that 140 had escaped uncapture⁴, or had committed suicide; and 87 had been executed; leaving 481 only of the number.

   • 1935, Thomas Rayner Dawson, Charles Masson Fox, Five classics of fairy chess‎, Dover Publications, page 17:

     No. 109—Pe2—e3 let Bf1 out for capture, Pe7 came from f6, so we have 1 8f2—h1, Ph7xQg6, with play Kh4, Pg3; or 1 Bf2—g1, Ph7xRg6, with Be2, Pg4; or 1 8f7—h8, Ph7xBg6, with Kg4, Rxs4; or 1 Qc8—b8, Ph7x8g6, with Pe5, Qf5, a fourfold uncapture that astonished me when I brought it off.

   • 1996, David Hooper, Kenneth Whyld, Oxford Companion to Chess‎, Oxford University Press, page 338:

     After an uncapture by White, Nd5xNe3, and an uncapture by Black, Nf3xNe3, the position is: White Ka1, Na3, d5, e3; Black Ke5, Ne6, e4, f$ […]

Related terms

• capture