caliber
[kal-uh-ber]
- the diameter of something of circular section, especially that of the inside of a tube: a pipe of three-inch caliber.
- Ordnance. the diameter of the bore of a gun taken as a unit of measurement.
- degree of capacity or competence; ability: a mathematician of high caliber.
- degree of merit or excellence; quality: the high moral caliber of the era.
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Also especially British, cal·i·bre.
Origin of caliber
1560–70; variant of calibre < Middle French ≪ Arabic qālib mold, last < Greek kālápous shoe last, equivalent to kāla- combining form of kâlon wood + poús foot (see -pod)
Synonyms
See more synonyms for caliber on Thesaurus.com4. worth, distinction.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for caliber
Contemporary Examples
The caliber at which Sam and the entire crew preformed dubbed them professionals not students.
Nitehawk Shorts Festival: ‘Brute,’ a Twisted Take on Playing in the DarkJulia Grinberg
November 28, 2014
It was later reported that the weapon was a BB gun that appeared to be a .45-caliber pistol.
Still, the school has gotten more difficult to get into and the caliber of student attending has improved, as a result.
How The University of Wisconsin Badgers Are Bucking the Big Ten Ticket FlopBrian Weidy
October 31, 2014
When the body of Johnson was exhumed, the medical examiner was acutely chagrined when six .22 caliber rounds were removed from it.
He swaggered into the school cafeteria that day with a .22 caliber handgun and started shooting randomly.
Historical Examples
Had he dreamed of the hammer blow of that forty-five caliber bullet?
Hundreds and thousands of people have minds of this caliber.
Browning's EnglandHelen Archibald Clarke
What business could a detective of his caliber have to do with Bertrand Rockamore?
The CreviceWilliam John Burns and Isabel Ostrander
Sufficiently expert to care little for an enemy of his caliber.
Tom Burke Of "Ours", Volume I (of II)Charles James Lever
Guns of all caliber belched their deadly missiles at the charging French.
Fighting in FranceRoss Kay
Word Origin and History for caliber
n.
1560s, "degree of merit or importance," a figurative use from Middle French calibre (late 15c.), apparently ultimately from Arabic qalib "a mold for casting." Arabic also used the word in the sense "mold for casting bullets," which is the oldest literal meaning in English. Meaning "inside diameter of a gun barrel" is attested from 1580s. Barnhart remarks that Spanish calibre, Italian calibro "appear too late to act as intermediate forms" between the Arabic word and the French.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
caliber
(kăl′ə-bər)- The diameter of the inside of a round cylinder, such as a tube.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.