Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| calamus (ˈkæləməs) | |
| —n , pl -mi | |
| 1. | any tropical Asian palm of the genus Calamus, some species of which are a source of rattan and canes |
| 2. | another name for sweet flag |
| 3. | the aromatic root of the sweet flag |
| 4. | ornithol the basal hollow shaft of a feather; quill |
| [C14: from Latin, from Greek kalamos reed, cane, stem] | |
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Calamus definition
the Latin for cane, Hebrew _Kaneh_, mentioned (Ex. 30:23) as one of the ingredients in the holy anointing oil, one of the sweet scents (Cant. 4:14), and among the articles sold in the markets of Tyre (Ezek. 27:19). The word designates an Oriental plant called the "sweet flag," the Acorus calamus of Linnaeus. It is elsewhere called "sweet cane" (Isa. 43:24; Jer. 6:20). It has an aromatic smell, and when its knotted stalk is cut and dried and reduced to powder, it forms an ingredient in the most precious perfumes. It was not a native of Palestine, but was imported from Arabia Felix or from India. It was probably that which is now known in India by the name of "lemon grass" or "ginger grass," the Andropogon schoenanthus. (See CANE.)
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