calamary

American  

[kal-uh-mer-ee, -muh-ree] / ˈkæl əˌmɛr i, -mə ri /

Also calamar

noun

• calamaries
  plural

1. a squid, especially of the genus Loligo.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• calamaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of calamary

First recorded in 1560–70; apparently from Latin calamārius “pertaining to a pen”; see calamari; the ink metaphor may stem from a popular form such as Italian calamaro

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

calamary calamaries

The only doubt I have is whether the fisherman correctly described his assailant as an octopus, and whether it was not a calamary.

From Sea Monsters Unmasked and Sea Fables Explained by H. W. (Henry William) Lee

In November, 1873—about three weeks after the occurrence in Conception Bay—another calamary somewhat smaller than the preceding, but of the same species, also came into Mr. Harvey's possession.

From Sea Monsters Unmasked and Sea Fables Explained by H. W. (Henry William) Lee

There is not one of the above judiciously summarized characteristics that is not supplied by the great calamary, and its ascertained habits and peculiar mode of locomotion.

From Sea Monsters Unmasked and Sea Fables Explained by H. W. (Henry William) Lee

Evidently, again, a large calamary raising its caudal extremity and fin above the surface, and discolouring the water by discharging its ink.

From Sea Monsters Unmasked and Sea Fables Explained by H. W. (Henry William) Lee

Squid, skwid, n. a kind of cuttle-fish or calamary: a lure used in trolling for fish.—v.i. to fish with a squid or spoon-bait.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

Instead of there being eight, as in the argonaut and octopus, or ten, as in sepia and the calamaries, the Nautilus has about ninety projecting in every direction from around the mouth.

From Sea Monsters Unmasked and Sea Fables Explained by H. W. (Henry William) Lee

At the back of the beach, where the tree-ferns and the calamaries grew rankest, the foliage parted noiselessly at a height of perhaps twenty feet from the ground, and a dreadful head looked forth.

From In the Morning of Time by Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts

As the great calamaries were unknown, their mode of swift retrograde motion, by means of an outflowing current of water, was of course unsuspected.

From Sea Monsters Unmasked and Sea Fables Explained by H. W. (Henry William) Lee

The existence, in almost every sea, of calamaries capable of playing their part in such a scene has been fully proved, and this vexed question of marine zoology set at rest for ever.

From Sea Monsters Unmasked and Sea Fables Explained by H. W. (Henry William) Lee

Although individuals of other species, of larger dimensions, are known to have existed, this is the largest specimen of the hook-armed calamaries that has been scientifically examined.

From Sea Monsters Unmasked and Sea Fables Explained by H. W. (Henry William) Lee