calf

• (Received Pronunciation, Northern England, Wales) enPR: käf, IPA^(key): /kɑːf/
• (General American, Canada) enPR: kăf, IPA^(key): /kæf/

  • Audio (US):

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• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /kɐːf/
• (Scotland, Ireland) IPA^(key): /kaf/
• (Wales) IPA^(key): /kaːf/
• (New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore) IPA^(key): /kɛəf/
• (dialectal, obsolete) IPA^(key): /keɪf/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɑːf, -æf
• Homophone: caf (some accents)

From Middle English calf, from Anglian Old English cælf, calf (West Saxon ċealf); also cognate with Scots caff, calf, cauf, cawf (“calf”), North Frisian Kualev, kualew, kuulew (“calf”), Saterland Frisian Koolich (“calf”), West Frisian keal (“calf”), German Kalb (“calf”), Luxembourgish Kallef (“calf”), Limburgish and Dutch kalf (“calf”), Vilamovian kołb, kołp (“calf”), Faroese kálvur (“calf”), Icelandic kálfur (“calf”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish kalv (“calf”), from Proto-Germanic *kalbaz, further etymology unknown.^[2]

calf (plural calves or (nonstandard) calfs)

2. A young cow or bull of any bovid, such as domestic cattle or buffalo.
   • 1917, Knut Hamsun, Growth of the Soil, Book 1, Ch.3, at p.22:

     And Goldenhorns calved. A great day in the wilderness, a joy and a delight. They gave her flour-wash, and Isak himself saw to it there was no stint of flour, though he had carried it all the way himself, on his back. And there lay a pretty calf, a beauty, red-flanked like her mother, and comically bewildered at the miracle of coming into the world. In a couple of years she would be having calves of her own.

3. Leather made of the skin of domestic calves; especially, a fine, light-coloured leather used in bookbinding.
   • 1900 Douglas Cockerell: Leather for Bookbinding. Journal of the Society of Arts, March 30 1900, p. 406

     We find now, that instead of leather made from sheep, calf, goat, and pig-skins, each having, when finished, its own characteristic surface, that sheepskins are got up to look like calf, morocco, or pigskin; that calf is grained to resemble morocco or so polished and fattened as to have but little character left; while goatskins are grained in any number of ways, and pigskin is often grained like levant morocco. So clever are some of these imitations that it takes a skilled expert to identify a leather when it is on a book. . . I am inclined to consider that calf, as a sound leather, has been manufactured out of existence, for it is unusual to find a 19th century calf binding of more than fifteen years old that does not show signs of decay.

4. The young of various animals, especially elephant, giraffe, reindeer, seal, or whale (also indiscriminately used of other animals).
5. A mass of ice broken from a larger glacier, ice shelf, or iceberg.
   • 1915 (published), 1848 (first written), Elisha Kent Kane, Adrift in the Arctic Ice Pack

     Our swell ceases with this wind, and the floes seem disposed to come together again; but the days of winter have passed by, and the interposing calves prevent the apposition of the edges

6. A small island, near a larger island.
   • 2010 Kate Hawkins Calf of Man. In: Bird Observatories of Britain and Ireland, ed Mike Archer, Mark Grantham, et al. →ISBN (pages unnumbered)

     Situated in the north of the Irish Sea and to the south-west of the isle of Man, the Calf of Man is ideally placed on the bird migration routes over the western side of the British Isles. Its importance for migrating and breeding birds had been recognised long before the observatory was established in 1959. . . Visitors can explore the Calf as day visitors or can stay in the hostel accommodation. . .

7. A cabless railroad engine.
8. (informal, dated) An awkward or silly boy or young man; any silly person; a dolt.
   • 1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “Nimphidia. The Court of Fayrie.”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC:

     some silly, doating, brainless calf

• bullet (rare); cowlet, cowling; moggy (Midlands, now rare)

• calve

• bull
• cow
• veal

From Middle English calf, kalf, from Old Norse kalfi, possibly derived from the same Germanic root as English calf (“young cow”) (above). Cognate with Icelandic kálfi (“calf of the leg”).

calf (plural calves)

1. (anatomy) The back of the leg below the knee.
2. The muscle in the back of the leg below the knee.
   • 1988, Steve Holman, “Christian Conquers Columbus”, in Ironman, 47 (6): 28-34:

     Sure, his calves are a little weak, but the rest of his physique is so overwhelming, he should place high.

• CLAF, FLAC

From Old Dutch calf, from Proto-Germanic *kalbaz.

calf n

1. calf

• Dutch: kalf
• Limburgish: kalf

• “calf”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “calf”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

From Anglian Old English calf, cælf (West Saxon ċealf), Proto-West Germanic *kalb, from Proto-Germanic *kalbaz.

• calfe, chalf, chalve, chelve, kelf, kalf

• IPA^(key): /kalf/, /t͡ʃalf/

calf (plural calver(e) or calveren or calves)

2. calf (cow that has not fully matured)
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[3], published c. 1410, Apocalips 4:7, page 118v, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     ⁊ þe firſte beeſte .· liyk a lioun / ⁊ þe ſecounde beeſte .· lijk a calf / ⁊ þe þꝛidde beeſte .· hauynge a face as of a man / ⁊ þe fourþe beeſte .· liyk an egle fleynge

     And the first beast [was] like a lion; and the second beast [was] like a calf; and the third beast had a face like a human; and the fourth beast [was] like an eagle flying.

3. A representation of a calf; something that looks like a calf.
4. fawn (deer that has not fully matured)
5. (rare) Veal; the meat of calves.

• English: calf
• Scots: cauf, cawf, caff, calf
• Yola: callef, calef, calluf

• “calf, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 17 July 2018.

From Old Norse kalfi.

• calfe

• IPA^(key): /ˈkalf(ə)/

calf (plural calves)

2. calf (part of the leg).

• English: calf
• Scots: cauf

• “calf, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 17 July 2018.

From Proto-Germanic *kalbaz.

calf n

1. calf

• Middle Dutch: calf
  • Dutch: kalf
  • Limburgish: kalf

• “kalf”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

calf n

1. alternative form of ċealf

From Middle English calf (“young cow”).

calf

1. alternative form of cauf (“calf (young cow)”)

From Middle English caf, caff, kaf, kaff, alternative forms of chaf.

calf

1. alternative form of caff