caul
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- call [16th-17th c.]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle French cale.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
caul (plural cauls)
- (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 […]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.vii:
- (anatomy, obsolete except in specific senses) A membrane. [14th-17th c.]
- The thin membrane which covers the lower intestines; the omentum. [from 14th c.]
- 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.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society (2012), page 182:
- The surface of a press that makes contact with panel product, especially a removable plate or sheet.
- (woodworking) A strip or block of wood used to distribute or direct clamping force.
- (cooking) Caul fat.
Translations[edit]
a style of close-fitting circular cap
the thin membrane which covers the lower intestines
part of the amniotic sac which sometimes shrouds a baby’s head at birth
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