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

On the 19th of the calends of January"—that is the 14th of December—"the heavens being dark, a kind of burning sword fell to the earth, leaving behind it a long train of light.

From Astronomical Myths Based on Flammarions's History of the Heavens by Blake, John F.

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

And the blessed Praxedis collected their bodies by night, and buried them in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the seventh day of the calends of June.

From Walks in Rome by Hare, Augustus J. C.

He fell asleep in the Lord, the sixteenth of the calends of April, 1620.

From Pius IX. And His Time by Dawson, Æneas MacDonell

Between Easter and the calends of October let them apply themselves to reading from the fourth hour until the sixth 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