calcar

¹

[kal-kahr]

noun

Biology.

plural

calcaria 

1. a spur or spurlike process.

calcar

²

[kal-kahr]

noun

Glassmaking.

plural

calcaria 

1. a reverberatory furnace for preparing frit.

calcar

/ ˈkælˌkɑː /

noun

1. a spur or spurlike process, as on the leg of a bird or the corolla of a flower

calcar

1. A spur or spurlike projection, such as one found on the base of a petal or on the wing or leg of a bird.

Word History and Origins

Origin of calcar¹

< Latin: spur, equivalent to calc-, stem of calx heel, calx + -ar, shortening of -āre, neuter of -āris -ar ¹

Origin of calcar²

1655–65; < Italian calcara < Late Latin calcāria lime-kiln, equivalent to Latin calc- lime ( chalk ) + -āria -ary

Word History and Origins

Origin of calcar¹

C19: from Latin, from calx heel

Example Sentences

Vesalius and van Calcar faced challenges of their own.

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She stole Celia’s leather pumps when her feet got too swollen to wear them and tore the backs open with her calcar- ated heels.

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For the same reason I have always felt a great desire to receive praise and applause from polite society: 'Excitat auditor stadium, laudataque virtus Crescit, et immensum gloria calcar habet.

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This conversion, which took place In 1374, appears to have been due partly to the effects of a dangerous illness and partly to the influence of Henry de Calcar, the learned and pious prior of the Carthusian monastery at Munnikhuizen near Arnhem, who had remonstrated with him on the vanity of his life.

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Calcar, kal′kar, n. an oven or furnace for calcining the materials of frit before melting—also Fritting-furnace: an arch or oven for annealing.

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