calf Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun young of domestic cattle
  2. noun the muscular back part of the shank
    sura.
  3. noun fine leather from the skin of a calf
    calfskin.
  4. noun young of various large placental mammals e.g. whale or giraffe or elephant or buffalo

WordNet

Calf noun
Etymology
OE. calf, kelf, AS. cealf; akin to D. kalf, G. kalb, Icel. kalfr, Sw. kalf, Dan. kalv, Goth. kalbo; cf. Skr. garbha fetus, young, Gr. , Skr grabh to seize, conceive, Ir. colpa, colpach, a calf. *222.
Wordforms
plural Calves
Definitions
  1. The young of the cow, or of the Bovine family of quadrupeds. Also, the young of some other mammals, as of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and whale.
  2. Leather made of the skin of the calf; especially, a fine, light-colored leather used in bookbinding; as, to bind books in calf.
  3. An awkward or silly boy or young man; any silly person; a dolt. Colloq.
    Some silly, doting, brainless calf. Drayton.
  4. A small island near a larger; as, the Calf of Man.
  5. A small mass of ice set free from the submerged part of a glacier or berg, and rising to the surface. Kane.
  6. Cf. Icel. kalfi. The fleshy hinder part of the leg below the knee.

Webster 1913