Dictionaries › English

caul

Pronunciation: /kɔːl/

The English word “caul” has 8 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A style of close-fitting circular cap worn by women in the sixteenth century and later, often made of linen.
  2. An entry to a mill lead taken from a burn or stream (a mill lead (or mill waterway) is generally smaller than a canal but moves a large volume of water).
  3. A membrane.
  4. The thin membrane which covers the lower intestines; the omentum.
  5. The amnion which encloses the foetus before birth, especially that part of it which sometimes shrouds a baby’s head at birth (traditionally considered to be good luck).
  6. The surface of a press that makes contact with panel product, especially a removable plate or sheet.
  7. A strip or block of wood used to distribute or direct clamping force.
  8. Caul fat.

Etymology

From Middle English calle, kelle, kalle, kolle (“caul, net, basket”), from Old English cāwl, cāul, cēawl, cēaul (“basket, container, net, sieve”), of uncertain origin. Reinforced by Old French cale (“close-fitting cap”), possibly a borrowing of the Old English term above, or alternatively related to Old French calotte (“headdress”), from Italian callotta, from Latin calautica (“type of female…

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “caul” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.