calends

American  

[kal-uhndz] / ˈkæl əndz /

Or kalends

noun

(usually used with a plural verb)

1. the first day of the month in the ancient Roman calendar, from which the days of the preceding month were counted backward to the ides.

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calends British  

/ ˈkælɪndz /

plural noun

1. the first day of each month in the ancient Roman calendar

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Etymology

Origin of calends

1325–75; Middle English kalendes, alteration (with native plural suffix) of Latin kalendae, perhaps equivalent to cal- (base of calāre to proclaim) + -end- formative suffix (perhaps for *-and- ) + -ae plural ending

Example Sentences

Having carefully examined the region of Cibao, Columbus returned on the calends of April, the day after Easter, to Isabella; this being the name he had given to the new city.

From De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2) The Eight Decades of Peter Martyr D'Anghera by MacNutt, Francis Augustus

The festival of Augustus, celebrated on the calends of August, was replaced by that of St Peter in vinculis, established on the 1st of that month.

From A Treatise on Relics by Calvin, John

Saturnalia, and several other festivals, were celebrated on the calends of January; Christmas was fixed at the same epoch.

From A Treatise on Relics by Calvin, John

Remembering the success that had crowned his efforts during the nights of the calends of January, he indulged in gambols that delighted the blockish leudes and that carried their hilarity to the pitch of hysterics.

From The Poniard's Hilt Or Karadeucq and Ronan. A Tale of Bagauders and Vagres by Sue, Eugène

If Janiveer calends be summerly gay 'Twill be winterly weather till calends of May.

From Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases With a Copious Index of Principal Words by Preston, Thomas