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
Along the centre of the floor is the median furrow, which terminates below in a pen-shaped form, the so-called calamus scriptorius.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 4 "Bradford, William" to "Brequigny, Louis" by Various
Then follow other articles of commerce: bright iron, cassia, calamus and precious cloths for chariots.
From The Prophet Ezekiel An Analytical Exposition by Arno C. Gaebelein
Away! gold of Arabia, Myrrh, calamus, and cassia, Far better I discover!
From Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs Translated by John Kelly by Paul Gerhardt
Cane, kān, n. the stem of one of the smaller palms—the calamus or rattan, or the larger grasses—bamboo and sugar-cane: a walking-stick.—v.t. to beat with a cane.—ns.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
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
He could hardly have known of the two G's, from the sound; but the omission of the cross-bar from the one that was de rigueur was certainly a lapsus calami, and a serious one.
From When Ghost Meets Ghost by William Frend De Morgan
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
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
It can, therefore, have been a mere lapsus calami on her part, as this eminently sensible woman was incapable of the silly weakness of concealing her age.
From Maria Edgeworth by Helen Zimmern
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