calamus
Americannoun
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calami
plural
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the sweet flag, Acorus calamus.
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its aromatic root.
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any of various tropical Asian palms of the genus Calamus, some of which are a source of rattan.
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the hollow base of a feather; a quill.
noun
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any tropical Asian palm of the genus Calamus, some species of which are a source of rattan and canes
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another name for sweet flag
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the aromatic root of the sweet flag
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ornithol the basal hollow shaft of a feather; quill
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of calamus
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek kálamos reed, stalk
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In the garden grow "an orchard of pomegranates . . . spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense".
From The Guardian ● Jan. 29, 2011
The odours of calamus and myrrh and camphor from strange continents mingled with the faint perfume of the dried rose leaves and the scent-bags of English lavender.
From The Bow of Orange Ribbon A Romance of New York by Theo. Hampe
The rattan is the stem of a creeping prickly palm, the scientific name of which is the calamus.
From The Last Voyage to India and Australia, in the 'Sunbeam' by R. T. (Robert Taylor) Pritchett
At their bases these rudimentary barbs meet to form the calamus.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various
For indigestion and shortness of the breath we chewed calamus root or drank tea made from it.
From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Georgia Narratives, Part 4 by Work Projects Administration
This contains "oleum calami," and the bitter principle "acorin."
From Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure by William Thomas Fernie
This should be Fort Clark, not Fort Leavenworth—an evident lapsus calami.
From Travels in the Interior of North America, Part I, (Being Chapters I-XV of the London Edition, 1843) Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Volume XXII by Alexander Philipp Maximilian
In providing copy for a work of six volumes, each of about 1000 pages, it was but natural that lapsus calami should occur from time to time.
From My Autobiography A Fragment by F. Max (Friedrich Max) Müller
I think this must have been a lapsus calami on Voltaire's part, because it is unlikely that he would have invented such a story.
From The Koran (Al-Qur'an) by George Sale
The artist is a sort of impassioned proof-reader, blue-pencilling the lapsus calami of God.
From Damn! A Book of Calumny by H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
