calf

名词 n.
中文释义
英 /kɑːf/    美 /kæf/|/kɐːf/

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. A young cow or bull of any bovid, such as domestic cattle or buffalo.
    — 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.
  2. The back of the leg below the knee.
  3. Leather made of the skin of domestic calves; especially, a fine, light-coloured leather used in bookbinding.
    — 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 muscle in the back of the leg below the knee.
    — Sure, his calves are a little weak, but the rest of his physique is so overwhelming, he should place high.
  5. The young of various animals, especially elephant, giraffe, reindeer, seal, or whale (also indiscriminately used of other animals).
  6. 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
  7. A small island, near a larger island.
    — 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. . .
  8. A cabless railroad engine.
  9. An awkward or silly boy or young man; any silly person; a dolt. dated,informal
    — some silly, doating, brainless calf

词形变化

calves plural calfs nonstandard,plural calves plural

词汇关系

近义词
bullet cowlet cowling moggy
衍生词
box calf bull-calf bull calf bum calf calfbound calfdozer calf eyes calfflesh calfhide calfhood calfish calflick calflike calfling calf love calfskin calfy cow calf cow-calf divinity calf elephant calf golden calf haircalf heifer calf in calf in-calf killcalf kill the fatted calf law calf mooncalf moon-calf reindeer calf Russia calf sea-calf sea calf seacalf seal calf tree calf water buffalo calf with calf calfless calf bone calf-length calf raise cankle midcalf
相关词
calve bull cow veal

词源

词源 1
From Middle English calf, from Anglian Old English cælf, calf (West Saxon ċealf), from Proto-West Germanic *kalb, from Proto-Germanic *kalbaz, further etymology unknown.
Cognates

* Scots caff (“calf”)
* Scots calf (“calf”)
* Scots cauf (“calf”)
* Scots cawf (“calf”)
* North Frisian Kualev (“calf”)
* North Frisian kualew (“calf”)
* North Frisian kuulew (“calf”)
* Saterland Frisian Koolich (“calf”)
* West Frisian keal (“calf”)
* German Kalb (“calf”)
* Luxembourgish Kallef (“calf”)
* Limburgish kalf (“calf”)
* Dutch kalf (“calf”)
* Vilamovian kołb (“calf”)
* Vilamovian kołp (“calf”)
* Faroese kálvur (“calf”)
* Icelandic kálfur (“calf”)
* Danish kalv (“calf”)
* Norwegian Bokmål kalv (“calf”)
* Norwegian Nynorsk kalv (“calf”)
* Swedish kalv (“calf”)
词源 2
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”).
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