A Dictionary of Cont..

calendar 80
fact that there is only one-no matter what
words, such as “differential,” “integral,” “infinitesimal,”
may be used to describe it.
calendar; calender; colander. A calendar is a
tabular arrangement of the days of each month
and week in a year. A calender is a machine in
which cloth, paper, or the like, is smoothed,
glazed, etc., by pressing between revolving cylinders.
It is also one who does such pressing.
John Gilpin’s good friend the calender was not,
as a modern reader might assume, an astrologer
but one who operated such a machine or did the
sort of work such a machine did. A colander is
a form of sieve used for draining OK liquids,
especially in cookery (The calender marked on
his calendar the day when the tinker would
return his colander).
calf. The plural is calves. The expression calves
foot jelly contains an old form of the genitive
and is equivalent to calf’s foot jelly. This is not
an instance of a plural noun used as the first element
in a compound.
caliber is the diameter of something of circular
section, as a bullet, or especially that of the inside
of a tube, as the bore of a gun. In ordnance
it is the diameter of the bore of a gun taken as
a unit in stating its length, as a fifty caliber 14
inch gun.
Purists have been unhappy over the figurative
extension of the word to mean degree of capacity
or ability, personal character, or merit or
importance (A man of his caliber is an asset to
the community). But it is now standard and
must be accepted.
calico in the United States means a printed cotton
cloth, superior to percale. In Britain it means a
white cotton cloth. What is called calico in
England is called muslin in America.
calix. The plural is calices.
call a halt to something, like to put a stop to it,
implies that the speaker possesses dictatorial
powers in the particular situation and has exercised
them or is prepared to exercise the:m vigorously.
However, it is worn and hackneyed and
should be avoided.
call a spade a spade. There have been a number
of objects whose simple designation has been
proverbial, among different nations, for plain
speaking. The Greeks said to call a fig a fig and
a boat a boat and regarded such direct talk as
characteristic of the uncultivated Maceedonians.
In English, for centuries, it has been ;a spade.
Why, no one knows.
Amusingly, the phrase is itself a contradiction
of what it advocates. No one objects to calling
a spade a spade; it is coarser and less inoffensive
things that are usually glossed over with euphemisms.
However derived or justified, the phrase is
now, except in jest, to be avoided.
calling; vocation. A calling was originally a summons
from God to enter His service or the inward
conviction of such a summons. The child
Samuel had a true calling. The word still retains
this sense in relation to the ministry where such
a summons is felt to be requisite. From this
association the word has derived a feeling of dignity,
a devotion to some great duty that transcends
one’s personal material interests (The
conscious warrant of a high calling sustained
him through these dreadful years). It has come
to be used, however, more and more (apart from
its special use in relation to the ministry) in the
mere sense of occupation (He prostituted himself
to the base callinn of a hired scribbler). but
it has a slightly archaic and pompous kavor
here.
Vocation, which is simply the Latin for calling,
and would, one assumes, therefore be even
more formal, is less formal. The religious connotation
does not cling to it and, at least in the
United States, it is standard for a man’s occupation,
business, or profession. It has (except
when used as an adjective in such special, almost
technical, contexts as vocational guidance) a
tinge of pomposity. See also avocation, business,
job.
callipers. The singular form calliper may be used
in speaking of one of these instruments, as in
this calliper is mine, and the plural form cailipers
in speaking of several instruments, as in we
have three callipers. The plural form may also
be used in speaking of one instrument, as in
these callipers are the ones, and three instruments
may be called three pairs of callipers.
Both constructions are standard English today.
Only the singular form calliper is used as the
first element in a compound, as in a callipersquare.
callus; callous. Callus is a noun and means a hard
piece of flesh, as in he has three calluses on his
hand. The only ulural is calluses. Callous is an
adjective and means callus-like or hard, as in his
callous hands, his callous attitude. The verb,
meaning to harden, is formed from the adjective,
as in his hands were calloused by toil. A verb
may also be formed from the noun but this
means only to turn into a callus, as in the spot
callused.
calm before the storm. People speak of the calm
before the storm as though it were an invariable
phenomenon. However, it is not. In its figurative
uses, the phrase is a cliche and to be avoided.
calumny. See libel.
calves. See calf.
calyx. The plural is calyxes or calyces.
came. See come.
campus English. There are, of course, a few
hardy campus perennials which are readily comprehensible
to the general public, such as dot,
prof, dorm, frat, quad. But whether there is anything
else that may definitely be classified as
college slang is open to doubt. It is true that
there are feature stories in a number of magazines
every year on the current campus expressions,
but one suspects that these are whipped up
seasonally, by their authors, at the editors’ demands,
like the stories on Groundhog Day. If
the students have the linguistic originality and
playfulness attributed to them in these articles,
they skilfully conceal it in most of their compositions.