‖ calamus
(ˈkæləməs)
Also 6 kalmus, calmus.
[a. L. calamus, Gr. κάλαµος reed.]
† 1. A reed, a cane: vaguely used by early writers, after Latin or Greek authors. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxix. (1495) 622 Calamus is holowe wythin as a cane. Ibid. xxx. 622 Strawe is called Calamus vsualis. 1597 Gerard Herbal i. xlv. 63 Bastard or false Calamus grows naturally at the foot of a hill. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 375 The shorter and thicker that the reed is, the better is the Calamus. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 53 The true or bitter Calamus is a Kind of Reed. |
2. sweet calamus, C. aromaticus: a. some eastern aromatic plant or plants (supposed by some to be Andropogon Schœnanthus, the Sweet-scented Lemon Grass of Malabar); b. applied by some English herbalists to the native Sweet Flag or Sweet Rush (Acorus Calamus).
| 1388 Wyclif Ezek. xxvii. 19 Dan, and Greece, and Mosel, settiden forth in thi fairis..calamus. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xv. lxxiii. (1495) 515 Calamum smellyth full swete of yuory. 1535 Coverdale Jer. vi. 20 Wherfore bringe ye me..swete smellinge Calamus from farre countrees? 1611 Bible Ex. xxx. 23 Take thou..of sweet calamus [Coverdale Kalmus] two hundred and fiftie shekels. 1650 Rawley tr. Bacon's Life & Death 45 Broath..with..a little Angellica Seed, and Calamus. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece i. iv. 243 Calamus Aromaticus 3 Ounces, leaves of Wall-Rue 4 Ounces. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xviii. 251 Of plants not ciliaceous..Calamus Aromaticus or Sweet Rush. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg., Nativity vi, Another goblet!.. Stir..drops of myrrh And calamus therein! |
3. A genus of palms comprising many species, the stems of which grow to an extraordinary length, and form canes or rattans.
| 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 135/2 Calamus..the species..grow in the forests, climbing over trees and bushes to a greater extent than any other known plants. 1885 H. Stanley Congo, The luxuriant and endless lengths of calamus are useful for flooring and verandah mats. |
4. ‘A fistular stem without an articulation’ (Treas. Bot.).
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Add: 5. Ornith. The lower, unbarbed part of the shaft of a bird's feather.
| 1878 T. Dunman Gloss. Biol., Anat., & Physiol. Terms 18 Calamus, the quill of a bird's feather. 1940 Physiol. Zoöl. XIII. 155 In the formation of the calamus the same process..gives rise to a series of ‘horny’ partitions. 1974 D. & M. Webster Compar. Vertebr. Morphol. viii. 168 The shaft of the pluma is composed of the calamus, which is embedded in the feather follicle and protrudes a short distance beyond it, and the rachis, which supports and is actually part of the feather's vane. |