calf

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“
When she first met Cúchulainn she had a cow on whom the Brown Bull was to beget a calf, and she told the hero that "So long as the calf which is in this cow's body is a yearling, it is up to that time that thou art in life; and it is this that will lead to the Táin_.

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Definitions (31)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun A young cow or bull.
  2. noun The young of certain other mammals, such as the elephant or whale.
  3. noun Calfskin leather.
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Examples (50)

  • With all that had happened since Quentin bolted, he'd almost forgotten that Demothi's failure to control the calf was the end of a dream. —  Warhorse
  • Wagons had never been seen by them before, and they examined them with the greatest minuteness; but the calf was the peculiar object of their admiration. —  The Adventures of Captain Bonneville
  • Said hop has also been responsible for time on the disabled list earlier this year, although Alfonso insists that his calf was a ticking time-bomb and he would've been hurt regardless. —  GoatRiders of the Apocalypse
  • They only release milk when they smell their calf, and most will abide milking on just one side -- while her calf is nursing. —  NewsObserver.com - Home
  • Nothing excited his indignation so much as any wanton destruction among the cows, and in his view shooting a calf was a cardinal sin Henry Chatillon and Tęte Rouge were of the same age; that is, about thirty. —  Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7
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Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English, from Old English cealf.
  2. Middle English, from Old Norse kālfi; possibly akin to calf1 (from its shape).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. English dial. also cauf; early modern English also calve, from Middle English calf, from Anglo-Saxon cealf (plural cealfas, masculine, cealferu, cealfru, neuter) = Old Saxon kalf = Dutch kalf = Middle Low German Low German kalf = Icelandic kālfr = Swedish kalf = Danish kalv = Old High German calb, chalb (plural chelbir), Middle High German kalp (plural kelber), German kalb, neuter, Old High German chalbā, Middle High German kalbe, feminine, a calf, = Gothic (Moesogothic) kalbō, feminine, a heifer; related to Anglo-Saxon cilfor (-lomb), English dial, chilver, = Old High German chilburra, Middle High German kilbere, a female lamb, German dial. (Swiss) kilber, a young ram; cf. Irish colpa, colpach, cow, heifer, bullock; the Lapp, kalbe, Finn, kalpc, are borrowed from G. Perhaps akin to Sanskrit garbha, the womb, an embryo, = Greek βρέφος, an embryology In the derived senses 7, 8, 9, cf. Danish kalv, a detached islet, and see calve, 3, and cave.
  2. from Middle English calfe, calf, from Icelandic kālfi = Norwegian kalve, dial. kalv, kaave, = Swedish kalf, in comp. ben-kalf, calf (ben, leg, = English bone), = Danish dial, kalve, kalle, kal; cf. Irish calpa, colpa, Gael, calpa, calf of the leg.
 

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/kɑf/
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