Calf

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Calf \Calf\, n.; pl. {Calves}. [OE. calf, kelf, AS. cealf; akin
     to D. kalf, G. kalb, Icel. k[=a]lfr, Sw. kalf, Dan. kalv,
     Goth. kalb[=o]; cf. Skr. garbha fetus, young, Gr. ?????, Skr
     grabh to seize, conceive, Ir. colpa, colpach, a calf.
     [root]222.]
     1. The young of the cow, or of the Bovine family of


        quadrupeds. Also, the young of some other mammals, as of
        the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and whale.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Leather made of the skin of the calf; especially, a fine,
        light-colored leather used in bookbinding; as, to bind
        books in calf.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. An awkward or silly boy or young man; any silly person; a
        dolt. [Colloq.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Some silly, doting, brainless calf.   --Drayton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A small island near a larger; as, the Calf of Man.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. A small mass of ice set free from the submerged part of a
        glacier or berg, and rising to the surface. --Kane.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. [Cf. Icel. k[=a]lfi.] The fleshy hinder part of the leg
        below the knee.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Calf's-foot jelly}, jelly made from the feet of calves. The
        gelatinous matter of the feet is extracted by boiling, and
        is flavored with sugar, essences, etc.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  calf
       n 1: young of domestic cattle
       2: the muscular back part of the shank [syn: {sura}]
       3: fine leather from the skin of a calf [syn: {calfskin}]
       4: young of various large placental mammals e.g. whale or
          giraffe or elephant or buffalo
       [also: {calves} (pl)]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  147 Moby Thesaurus words for "calf":
     Brahman, Dry Ice, Indian buffalo, ankle, aurochs, bayonet legs,
     beef, beef cattle, beeves, berg, birdling, bison, bossy, bovine,
     bovine animal, bowlegs, buffalo, bull, bullock, carabao, catling,
     cattle, chick, chickling, chicky, cnemis, colt, cow, critter,
     cryosphere, cub, dairy cattle, dairy cow, dogie, drumstick,
     duckling, fawn, firn, fledgling, floe, foal, foreleg, frazil,
     frozen water, fryer, gamb, gambrel, gigot, glaciation, glacier,
     glacieret, glaze, glazed frost, gosling, granular snow, ground ice,
     growler, ham, heifer, hind leg, hock, hornless cow, ice,
     ice banner, ice barrier, ice belt, ice cave, ice cubes, ice dike,
     ice field, ice floe, ice foot, ice front, ice island, ice needle,
     ice pack, ice pinnacle, ice raft, ice sheet, iceberg, icefall,
     icequake, icicle, jamb, jokul, kid, kine, kit, kitten, knee, lamb,
     lambkin, leg, leppy, limb, litter, lolly, maverick, milch cow,
     milcher, milk cow, milker, muley cow, muley head, musk-ox, neat,
     nest, nestling, neve, nieve penitente, ox, oxen, pack ice, piglet,
     pigling, podite, polliwog, popliteal space, pullet, pup, puppy,
     scissor-legs, serac, shank, shelf ice, shin, shoat, sleet, slob,
     sludge, snow ice, snowberg, steer, stems, stirk, stot, stumps,
     tadpole, tarsus, trotters, weaner, whelp, wisent, yak, yeanling,
     yearling, zebu
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Calf
     Calves were commonly made use of in sacrifices, and are
     therefore frequently mentioned in Scripture. The "fatted calf"
     was regarded as the choicest of animal food; it was frequently
     also offered as a special sacrifice (1 Sam. 28:24; Amos 6:4;
     Luke 15:23). The words used in Jer. 34:18, 19, "cut the calf in
     twain," allude to the custom of dividing a sacrifice into two
     parts, between which the parties ratifying a covenant passed
     (Gen. 15:9, 10, 17, 18). The sacrifice of the lips, i.e.,
     priase, is called "the calves of our lips" (Hos. 14:2, R.V., "as
     bullocks the offering of our lips." Comp. Heb. 13:15; Ps. 116:7;
     Jer. 33:11).
     
       The golden calf which Aaron made (Ex. 32:4) was probably a
     copy of the god Moloch rather than of the god Apis, the sacred
     ox or calf of Egypt. The Jews showed all through their history a
     tendency toward the Babylonian and Canaanitish idolatry rather
     than toward that of Egypt.
     
       Ages after this, Jeroboam, king of Israel, set up two idol
     calves, one at Dan, and the other at Bethel, that he might thus
     prevent the ten tribes from resorting to Jerusalem for worship
     (1 Kings 12:28). These calves continued to be a snare to the
     people till the time of their captivity. The calf at Dan was
     carried away in the reign of Pekah by Tiglath-pileser, and that
     at Bethel ten years later, in the reign of Hoshea, by
     Shalmaneser (2 Kings 15:29; 17:33). This sin of Jeroboam is
     almost always mentioned along with his name (2 Kings 15:28
     etc.).