calamus

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In the garden grow "an orchard of pomegranates . . . spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense".

From The Guardian • Jan. 29, 2011

These feathers are specially interesting, inasmuch as they retain throughout life a stage corresponding to that seen in the very young cassowary, the calamus being greatly swollen, and supporting a very degenerate rhachis and vane.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various

Indeed the word calamus still lives, though corrupted to the French chalumeau and still further altered to the German Schalmei and the English shawm.

From Rustic Sounds and Other Studies in Literature and Natural History by Darwin, Francis, Sir

Calumet is an Old Norman word for chalumeau, reed, pipe, a diminutive from Lat. calamus.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest

The cinnabaris indica, mentioned by Pliny and Dioscorides, was what is vulgarly called dragon's blood, the resin obtained from various species of the calamus palm.

From Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life by Haines, T. L. (Thomas Louis)