caul

English

Alternative forms

• call [16th-17th c.]
• cawl

Etymology

From Middle French cale.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɔːl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːl

Noun

caul (plural cauls)

1. (historical) A style of close-fitting circular cap worn by women in the sixteenth century and later, often made of linen. [from 14th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.vii:

     Ne spared they to strip her naked all. / Then when they had despoild her tire and call, / Such as she was, their eyes might her behold […]

2. (anatomy, obsolete except in specific senses) A membrane. [14th-17th c.]
3. The thin membrane which covers the lower intestines; the omentum. [from 14th c.]
4. The amnion which encloses the foetus before birth, especially that part of it which sometimes shrouds a baby’s head at birth (traditionally considered to be good luck). [from 16th c.]
   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society (2012), page 182:

     Even in the mid seventeenth century a country gentleman might regard his caul as a treasure to be preserved with great care, and bequeathed to his descendants.

5. The surface of a press that makes contact with panel product, especially a removable plate or sheet.
6. (woodworking) A strip or block of wood used to distribute or direct clamping force.
7. (cooking) Caul fat.

Translations

a style of close-fitting circular cap

• French: coiffe (fr) f
• Japanese: コール (ja) (kōru)

• Russian: че́пчик (ru) m (čépčik), чепе́ц (ru) m (čepéc), се́тка (ru) f (sétka) (для воло́с), (плетёная) шля́пка (ru) f (šljápka)

the thin membrane which covers the lower intestines

• Bulgarian: було (bg) n (bulo)
• Finnish: vatsakalvo
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} scannán m, scairt f

• Navajo: akʼahłání
• Russian: мембра́на (ru) f (membrána), перепо́нка (ru) f (perepónka)

part of the amniotic sac which sometimes shrouds a baby’s head at birth

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 胎膜 (zh) (tāimó), 胎衣 (zh) (tāiyī) (placenta and caul)

• Dutch: helm (nl) m
• Finnish: onnenhattu
• French: coiffe céphalique f
• German: Glückshaube f

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} scannán m
• Polish: czepek (pl) m
• Portuguese: coifa (pt) f
• Russian: руба́шка (ru) f (rubáška) (colloquial, "shirt"), во́дная оболо́чка плода́ f (vódnaja obolóčka plodá)
• Swedish: segerhuva c, segerhatta c, visdomshuva c

Anagrams

• ACLU, LUCA, Luca, UCLA

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Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin caulis.

Noun

caul

1. cabbage