calamistrum
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value).
Noun
calamistrum (plural calamistra)
- (zoology) A comb-like structure on the metatarsus of the hind legs of certain spiders (Ciniflonidae), used to curl certain fibres in the construction of their webs.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “calamistrum”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Latin
Alternative forms
Etymology
Apparently from Ancient Greek καλάμιστρος (kalámistros, “stipula”), from κάλαμος (kálamos, “reed”), referring to the tubular shape of the heated curling irons. Perhaps influenced by Latin instrumental suffix -trum.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ka.laˈmis.trum/, [käɫ̪äˈmɪs̠t̪rʊ̃ˑ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ka.laˈmis.trum/, [käläˈmist̪rum]
Noun
calamistrum n (genitive calamistrī); second declension
- curling iron, curling tongs
- excessively ornamented words
Declension
Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
Derived terms
Descendants
- Portuguese: calamistro
References
- calamistrum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- “calamistrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “calamistrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin