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A genus of perennial plants (Calamintha) of the Mint family, esp. the C. Nepela and C. Acinos, which are called also basil thyme.

One who plays upon a reed or pipe. [Obs.] Blount.

To curl or friz, as the hair. [Obs.] Cotgrave.

The act or process of curling the hair. [Obs.] burton.

A comblike structure on the metatarsus of the hind legs of certain spiders (Ciniflonidæ), used to curl certain fibers in the construction of their webs.

A fossil plant of the coal formation, having the general form of plants of the modern Equiseta (the Horsetail or Scouring Rush family) but sometimes attaining the height of trees, and having the stem more or less woody within. See Acrogen, and Asterophyllite.

Suffering calamity; wretched; miserable. [Obs.] Ten thousands of calamitous persons. South.

A state or time of distress or misfortune; misery. The deliberations of calamity are rarely wise. Burke. Where'er I came I brought calamity. Tennyson.

A species of Acorus (A. calamus), commonly called calamus, or sweet flag. The root has a pungent, aromatic taste, and is used in medicine as a stomachic; the leaves have an aromatic odor, and were formerly used instead of rushes to strew on floors.

A filament. [R.]

A French mechanical lamp, for lighthouses, in which a superbundance of oil is pumped to the wick tube by clockwork.

Having a mantle; -- applied to certain gastropods.

A small South American edentate (Chlamyphorus truncatus, and C. retusus) allied to the armadillo. It is covered with a leathery shell or coat of mail, like a cloak, attached along the spine.

A loose and flowing outer garment, worn by the ancient Greeks; a kind of cloak.

A compound of chloral and formic amide used to produce sleep.

A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; as, the long clam (Mya arenaria), the quahog or round clam (Venus mercenaria), the sea clam or hen clam (Spisula solidissima), and other species of the United States. The name is said to have been given originally to the Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indi…

Crying earnestly, beseeching clamorousky. "Clamant children." Thomson.

The act of crying out. Sir T. Browne.

A division of passerine birds in which the vocal muscles are but little developed, so that they lack the power of singing.

Like or pertaining to the Clamatores.