3. A water dipper, bottle, bascket, or other utensil, made from the dry shell of a calabash or gourd.
Calabash tree. (Bot.), a tree of tropical America (Crescentia cujete), producing a large gourdlike fruit, containing a purgative pulp. Its hard shell, after the removal of the pulp, is used for cups, bottles, etc. The African calabash tree is the baobab.
Cal`a*boose" (?), n. [A corruption of Sp. calabozo dungeon.] A prison; a jail. [Local, U. S.]
||Ca*lade" (?), n. [F.] A slope or declivity in a manege ground down which a horse is made to gallop, to give suppleness to his haunches.
||Ca*la"di*um (?), n. [NL.] A genus of aroideous plants, of which some species are cultivated for their immense leaves (which are often curiously blotched with white and red), and others (in Polynesia) for food.
Cal"a*ite (kăl`&asl;*īt), n. [L. calla´s, Gr. ka`lai:s, ka`llai:s; cf. F. cala´te.] A mineral. See Turquoise.
Cal`a*man"co (kăl`&adot;*mă&nsm;"k&osl;), n. [LL. calamancus, calamacus; cf. camelaucum; a head covering made of camel's hair, NGr. kamelay`kion, and F. calmande a woolen stuff.] A glossy woolen stuff, plain, striped, or checked. "A gay calamanco waistcoat." Tatler.
Cal"a*man`der wood (kăl"&adot;*măn`d&etilde;r w&oocr;d`). A valuable furniture wood from India and Ceylon, of a hazel-brown color, with black stripes, very hard in texture. It is a species of ebony, and is obtained from the Diospyros quŠsita. Called also Coromandel wood.
{ Cal"a*mar (kăl"&adot;*mńr), Cal"a*ma*ry, (-m&asl;*r&ybreve;r)} n. [LL. calamarium inkstand, fr. L. calamus a reed pen: cf. F. calmar, calemar, pen case, calamar.] (Zo÷l.) A cephalopod, belonging to the genus Loligo and related genera. There are many species. They have a sack of inklike fluid which they discharge from the siphon tube, when pursued or alarmed, in order to confuse their enemies. Their shell is a thin horny plate, within the flesh of the back, shaped very much like a quill pen. In America they are called squids. See Squid.
Cal"am*bac (kăl"ăm*băk), n. [F. calambac, calambour, from Malay Kalambaq a king of fragrant wood.] (Bot.) A fragrant wood; agalloch.
Cal"am*bour (kăl"ăm*b&oomac;r), n. [See Calambac.] A species of agalloch, or aloes wood, of a dusky or mottled color, of a light, friable texture, and less fragrant than calambac; -- used by cabinetmakers.
Cal`a*mif"er*ous (?), a. [L. calamus reed + ferous.] Producing reeds; reedy.
Cal"a*mine (kăl"&adot;*mīn or - m&ibreve;n), n. [F. calamine, LL. calamina, fr. L. Cadmia. See Cadmia.] (min.) A mineral, the hydrous silicate of zinc.
&fist; The name was formerly applied to both the carbonate and silicate of zinc each of which is valuabic as an ore; but it is now usually restricted to the latter, the former being called smithsonite.
Cal"a*mint (-m&ibreve;nt), n. [OE. calamint, calemente (cf. F. calament) fr. L. calamintha, Gr. kalami`nqh, kala`minqos. See 1st Mint.] (Bot.) A genus of perennial plants (Calamintha) of the Mint family, esp. the C. Nepeta and C. Acinos, which are called also basil thyme.
Cal"a*mist (-m&ibreve;st), n. [L. calamus a reed.] One who plays upon a reed or pipe. [Obs.] Blount.
Cal`a*mis"trate (-m&ibreve;s"trāt), v. i. [L. calamistratus, curled with the curling iron, fr. calamistrum curling iron, fr. calamus a reed.] To curl or friz, as the hair. [Obs.] Cotgrave.
Cal`a*mis*tra"tion (kăl`&adot;*m&ibreve;s*trā"shŭn), n. The act or process of curling the hair. [Obs.] Burton.
||Cal`a*mis"trum (?), n. [L., a curling iron.] (Zo÷l.) A comblike structure on the metatarsus of the hind legs of certain spiders (CiniflonidŠ), used to curl certain fibers in the construction of their webs.
Cal"a*mite (?), n. [L. calamus a reed: cf. F. calamite.] (Paleon.) A fossil plant of the coal formation, having the general form of plants of the modern Equiseta (the Horsetail or Scouring Rush family) but sometimes attaining the height of trees, and having the stem more or less woody within. See Acrogen, and Asterophyllite.