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

So adjudged in the year of grace 1174, the third day of the calends of May, seventh indiction.”

From Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern by Saltus, Edgar

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

It was not, however, till the calends of May of the year after their departure from Darien, that they arrived at the capital.

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

These two days, days of solemn festivity in the calends of the Church, have been duly kept, and the population looks cheerful as it swarms through the streets.

From At Home And Abroad Or, Things And Thoughts In America and Europe by Fuller, Arthur B.

"I was sent to Præneste, with my troop of horse, before the calends of November; and returned not until the Ides."

From The Roman Traitor, Vol. 2 by Herbert, Henry William