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.

---

calends British  

/ ˈkælɪndz /

plural noun

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

---

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

From the calends of October to the beginning of Lent let them apply themselves to reading until the second hour.

From Education in England in the Middle Ages Thesis Approved for the Degree of Doctor of Science in the University of London by Parry, Albert William

On the night of the calends themselves he would have been the master of Præneste, that rich and inaccessible strong-hold, by a nocturnal escalade!

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

On the calends of July, the following entered on their office, Lucius Lucretius, Servius Sulpicius, Marcus Æmilius, Lucius Furius Medullinus a seventh time, Agrippa Furius, Caius Æmilius a second time.

From The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livius, Titus

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 Herbert, Henry William