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

See Examples For:

calends

The consular elections, as you all well know, will be held, as proclaimed already, on the fifteenth day before the calends of November.

From The Roman Traitor, Vol. 1 by Henry William Herbert

From the Court of Spain, the third day of the calends of May, 1494.

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

He must be instigated from without, if the deed is not to be put off until the Greek calends.

From Sleep Walking and Moon Walking A Medico-Literary Study by J. Sadger

"Perhaps it was in the Greek calends," said Edric.

From Alfgar the Dane or the Second Chronicle of Aescendune by A. D. (Augustine David) Crake

In the ancient Roman calendar the first day of every month was invariably called the calends.

From Our Calendar by George Nichols Packer