What does "calf" mean?
Calf: Leather made of the skin of the calf; especially, a fine, light- colored leather used in bookbinding; as, to bind books in calf.
Additional senses
- 2.An awkward or silly boy or young man; any silly person; a dolt. [Colloq.] Some silly, doting, brainless calf. Drayton.
- 3.A small island near a larger; as, the Calf of Man.
- 4.A small mass of ice set free from the submerged part of a glacier or berg, and rising to the surface. Kane.
- 5.Etym: [Cf. Icel. kalfi.] The fleshy hinder part of the leg below the knee. 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.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00