quill, calamus, shaft
(noun) the hollow spine of a feather
Calamus, genus Calamus
(noun) a genus of Sparidae
calamus
(noun) the aromatic root of the sweet flag used medicinally
calamus
(noun) any tropical Asian palm of the genus Calamus; light tough stems are a source of rattan canes
Source: WordNet® 3.1
calamus (usually uncountable, plural calamuses or calami)
The sweet flag, Acorus calamus.
(ornithology) A quill; the hard, horny, hollow, and more or less transparent part of the stem or scape of a feather.
(Christianity, historical) synonym of fistula
Source: Wiktionary
Cal"a*mus, n.; pl. Calami. Etym: [L., a reed. See Halm.]
1. (Bot.)
Definition: The indian cane, a plant of the Palm family. It furnishes the common rattan. See Rattan, and Dragon's blood.
2. (Bot.)
Definition: A species of Acorus (A. calamus), commonly called calamus, or sweet flag. The root has a pungent, aromatic taste, and is used in medicine as a stomachic; the leaves have an aromatic odor, and were formerly used instead of rushes to strew on floors.
3. (Zoöl.)
Definition: The horny basal portion of a feather; the barrel or quill.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
4 April 2025
(verb) kill by cutting the head off with a guillotine; “The French guillotined many Vietnamese while they occupied the country”
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.
