calf
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: käf
ipa: /kɑːf/
enpr: kăf
ipa: /kæf/
ipa: /kɐːf/
ipa: /kaf/
ipa: /kaːf/
note: New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore
ipa: /kɛəf/
ipa: /keɪf/
rhymes: -ɑːf
rhymes: -æf
homophone: caf (some accents)
Forms: form: calves
form: calfs
Etymology: From Middle English calf, from Anglian Old English cælf, calf (West Saxon ċealf); also cognate with Scots caff, calf, cauf, cawf (“calf”), North Frisian Kualev, kualew, kuulew (“calf”), Saterland Frisian Koolich (“calf”), West Frisian keal (“calf”), German Kalb (“calf”), Luxembourgish Kallef (“calf”), Limburgish and Dutch kalf (“calf”), Vilamovian kołb, kołp (“calf”), Faroese kálvur (“calf”), Icelandic kálfur (“calf”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish kalv (“calf”), from Proto-Germanic *kalbaz, further etymology unknown.
Senses: examples: text: And Goldenhorns calved. A great day in the wilderness, a joy and a delight. They gave her flour-wash, and Isak himself saw to it there was no stint of flour, though he had carried it all the way himself, on his back. And there lay a pretty calf, a beauty, red-flanked like her mother, and comically bewildered at the miracle of coming into the world. In a couple of years she would be having calves of her own.
ref: 1917, Knut Hamsun, Growth of the Soil, Book 1, Ch.3, at p.22
glosses: A young cow or bull of any bovid, such as domestic cattle or buffalo.
examples: text: We find now, that instead of leather made from sheep, calf, goat, and pig-skins, each having, when finished, its own characteristic surface, that sheepskins are got up to look like calf, morocco, or pigskin; that calf is grained to resemble morocco or so polished and fattened as to have but little character left; while goatskins are grained in any number of ways, and pigskin is often grained like levant morocco. So clever are some of these imitations that it takes a skilled expert to identify a leather when it is on a book. . . I am inclined to consider that calf, as a sound leather, has been manufactured out of existence, for it is unusual to find a 19th century calf binding of more than fifteen years old that does not show signs of decay.
ref: 1900 Douglas Cockerell: Leather for Bookbinding. Journal of the Society of Arts, March 30 1900, p. 406
glosses: Leather made of the skin of domestic calves; especially, a fine, light-coloured leather used in bookbinding.
glosses: The young of various animals, especially elephant, giraffe, reindeer, seal, or whale (also indiscriminately used of other animals).
examples: text: 1915 (published), 1848 (first written), Elisha Kent Kane, Adrift in the Arctic Ice Pack
Our swell ceases with this wind, and the floes seem disposed to come together again; but the days of winter have passed by, and the interposing calves prevent the apposition of the edges
glosses: A mass of ice broken from a larger glacier, ice shelf, or iceberg.
examples: text: Situated in the north of the Irish Sea and to the south-west of the isle of Man, the Calf of Man is ideally placed on the bird migration routes over the western side of the British Isles. Its importance for migrating and breeding birds had been recognised long before the observatory was established in 1959. . . Visitors can explore the Calf as day visitors or can stay in the hostel accommodation. . .
ref: 2010 Kate Hawkins Calf of Man. In: Bird Observatories of Britain and Ireland, ed Mike Archer, Mark Grantham, et al. →ISBN (pages unnumbered)
glosses: A small island, near a larger island.
glosses: A cabless railroad engine.
examples: text: some silly, doating, brainless calf
ref: 1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “Nimphidia. The Court of Fayrie.”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC:
glosses: An awkward or silly boy or young man; any silly person; a dolt.
Synonyms: word: bullet
word: cowlet
word: cowling
word: moggy
Derived terms: box calf
bull-calf
bull calf
bum calf
calfbound
calfdozer
calf eyes
calfflesh
calfhide
calfhood
calfish
calfless
calflick
calflike
calfling
calf love
calfskin
calfy
cow calf
cow-calf
divinity calf
elephant calf
golden calf
haircalf
heifer calf
in calf
in-calf
killcalf
kill the fatted calf
law calf
mooncalf, moon-calf
reindeer calf
Russia calf
sea-calf
sea calf
seacalf
seal calf
tree calf
water buffalo calf
with calf
Related terms: calve
bull
cow
veal