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Caul   Listen
noun
Caul  n.  
1.
A covering of network for the head, worn by women; also, a net.
2.
(Anat.) The fold of membrane loaded with fat, which covers more or less of the intestines in mammals; the great omentum. See Omentum. "The caul serves for the warming of the lower belly."
3.
A part of the amnion, one of the membranes enveloping the fetus, which sometimes is round the head of a child at its birth; called also a veil. "It is deemed lucky to be with a caul or membrane over the face. This caul is esteemed an infallible preservative against drowning... According to Chrysostom, the midwives frequently sold it for magic uses." "I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Caul" Quotes from Famous Books



... the fragment in Old Northumbrian had indeed been attempted at the beginning of the nineteenth century by Mr. Repp and also by a disciple of the great Fin Magnusen, Mr. J. M. M'Caul, but the least said about these versions the better, both being wide of the mark. Being imperfectly acquainted with Old English they made the most absurd statements regarding the purpose the monument ...
— Studies from Court and Cloister • J.M. Stone

... skin hanging from the head' (No. 51) may have been fragments of the membranes; but there is nothing in the accompanying prediction to help us to trace the origin of the popular belief in the good luck following the baby born with a caul. If No. 53 was a case of congenital horns on the head, it must be regarded as a unique example, unless, indeed, a form of fetal ...
— Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine • George M. Gould

... over-credulous sovereign ordered that it should immediately be cast outside the city. Shen Chen-jen, who was passing, saw the small abandoned one, and said: "This is an Immortal who has just been born." With his knife he cut open the caul which enveloped it, ...
— Myths and Legends of China • E. T. C. Werner

... that it is hard for anyone that hath not had the experience thereof to believe. For instance, a deep and grievous wound in the breast with a dagger, and two others in the abdomen (or nether belly), so that the fat commonly named the caul, issued forth, the which mortal wounds, by God's permission, and the virtues of this herb, I perfectly cured within twenty days—for the which the ...
— Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure • William Thomas Fernie

... your packing-needle a piece of packthread through the eyes of the pike, through the middle and the tail also in the form of S; wash it over with the yolk of an egg, and strew it with the crumbs of bread. Roast or bake it with a caul over it. Sauce—melted butter ...
— The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory; • Charlotte Campbell Bury

... a virginal on The peritoneum, or caul wherein an organ. his bowels were wrapped, like His nails, like a gimlet. a billiard-table. His feet, like a guitar. His back, like an overgrown rack- His heels, like a club. bent crossbow. The soles of his feet, like a cru- The vertebrae, or joints of his cible. backbone, like ...
— Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete. • Francois Rabelais

... pushed through the external opening. Sometimes the bag does not rupture directly in front of the descending head but further up along the side. Then a portion of the membrane may be over the face of the child when it is born. This is what is called being "born with a veil" or "born with a caul." ...
— Herself - Talks with Women Concerning Themselves • E. B. Lowry

... go on.—"Was gently compressed by a caul of the finest net-work, composed of the threads spun from the beauteous production ...
— Olla Podrida • Frederick Marryat

... shillin' sud hae gane, Gibbie," said Donal. "It's clear it winna dee to gie shillin's to sic like as her. Wha kens but the hunger an' the caul', an' the want o' whisky may be the wuman's evil things here, 'at she may 'scape the hellfire o' the Rich ...
— Sir Gibbie • George MacDonald

... in war. Caul was the friend of strangers. His gates were open to all; midnight darkened not on his barred door. Both lived upon the sons of the mountains. Their bow was the ...
— Fragments Of Ancient Poetry • James MacPherson

... she replied sourly. "It is not fitting or lucky that a person's finger should stand about in a bottle like a caul or a lizard. Get it, I say get it—I ask no question where—or, young man, you will have little help in your love ...
— Lysbeth - A Tale Of The Dutch • H. Rider Haggard

... have their infancy entirely distinct from the infancy of childhood. The child is born into the world a simple, animal life—less helpful than a lamb, or a calf, or a kitten. There is no power in it, and but little of instinct. There is no form of life, bursting caul or shell, that awakes in vital air to such stupid, vacant helplessness, as a baby. It is out of this lump of clay, with its bones only half hardened, and its muscles little more than pulp, and its brain no more intelligent than an uncooked dumpling, that childhood is to be ...
— Lessons in Life - A Series of Familiar Essays • Timothy Titcomb

... and Lord Oxford on his left, bearing the swords of state. Sir Edward Hastings, on foot, led the Queen's horse. She sat in a chariot of tissue, trapped with red velvet, and drawn by six horses. Mary was dressed in blue velvet, bordered with ermine, and on her head she carried not only a caul of tinsel set with gold and stones, but also a garland of goldsmith's work, so massive that she was observed to "bear up her head with her hands." She was subject to violent headaches, and in all probability was suffering from one now. A canopy was ...
— Robin Tremain - A Story of the Marian Persecution • Emily Sarah Holt

... a frog in an opera hat, 'Tis a very old tale of a mouse and a rat, I could sing you another as pleasant, mayhap, Of a kitten that wore a high caul cap; But my muse on a far nobler subject shall drop, Of a bull who got into a china shop, With his right leg, left leg, upper leg, under leg, St. Patrick's day ...
— Charles Dickens and Music • James T. Lightwood

... night." "Have here my trothe," quoth the knight; "I grant." "Thenne," quoth she, "I dare me well avaunt,* *boast, affirm Thy life is safe, for I will stand thereby, Upon my life the queen will say as I: Let see, which is the proudest of them all, That wears either a kerchief or a caul, That dare say nay to that I shall you teach. Let us go forth withoute longer speech Then *rowned she a pistel* in his ear, *she whispered a secret* And bade him to be glad, ...
— The Canterbury Tales and Other Poems • Geoffrey Chaucer

... Evening and morning clearly imply a space of twenty-four hours, and the writer of Genesis, whoever he was, would probably be surprised at any other interpretation of his words. It is sometimes argued, as for instance by Dr. M'Caul, that these primeval days were of vast and unknown duration, the evening and the morning not being dependent on their present causes. But this supposition could only apply to the first three days, for the sun, moon, and stars were created on the fourth day, expressly ...
— Bible Romances - First Series • George W. Foote

... as it were, of the first concoction, and which turns our meat into chylus. It hath two mouths, one above, another beneath. The upper is sometimes taken for the stomach itself; the lower and nether door (as Wecker calls it) is named Pylorus. This stomach is sustained by a large kell or caul, called omentum; which some will have the same with peritoneum, or rim of the belly. From the stomach to the very fundament are produced the guts, or intestina, which serve a little to alter and distribute the chylus, and convey away the excrements. They ...
— The Anatomy of Melancholy • Democritus Junior

... beyond them stretches up the lawn a dense grove of nutmegs, like Portugal laurels, hung about with olive-yellow apples. Here and there a nutmeg-apple has split, and shows within the delicate crimson caul of mace; or the nutmegs, the mace still clinging round them, lie scattered on the grass. Under the perpetual shade of the evergreens haunt Heliconias and other delicate butterflies, who seem to dread the blaze outside, and flutter gently from leaf to leaf, their colouring—which is usually ...
— At Last • Charles Kingsley

... double ruffled with twelve plaits of a side, and open all from the face; the hair is frizzled all up round the head, and stands as stiff as a bodkin. Then the favourites hang loose on the temples, with a languishing lock in the middle. Then the caul is extremely wide, and over all is a coronet raised very high, and ...
— History of English Humour, Vol. 1 (of 2) - With an Introduction upon Ancient Humour • Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange

... said, she was frankly what she was. No man looked at her more than once without knowing it. To use an awkward metaphor, it was before her face like an overtone; it was an invisible caul. The wells of her ...
— The Vertical City • Fannie Hurst

... deference as allied sovereigns, rather than with connubial familiarity as mere husband and wife. When they approached each other, therefore, before embracing, they made three profound reverences, the queen taking off her hat and remaining in a silk net or caul, with her face uncovered. The king then approached and embraced her, and kissed her respectfully on the cheek. He also embraced his daughter the princess, and, making the sign of the cross, he blessed her and ...
— Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada • Washington Irving

... have been north to south—my thoughts had wandered again to the Tower of Siloam. Turiddu, however, had a reason for not being killed in the earthquake; he is naturally lucky because he was born with a caul; he keeps most of it at home and speaks of it as his cammisedda, which is Sicilian for camicetta, his little shirt. He carries a small piece of it in his watch-case, and offered to give it to me as a ricordo, but I thought he had better keep it all; it cannot be lucky to ...
— Castellinaria - and Other Sicilian Diversions • Henry Festing Jones

... Marie Louise, watching them, was suddenly shocked by the thought of how early in life humanity begins to revel in slaughter. The most innocent babes must be taught not to torture animals. Cruelty comes with them like a caul, or a habit brought in from a previous existence. They always almost murder their mothers and sometimes quite slay them when they are born. Their first pastimes are killing games, playing dead, stories of witches, cannibalistic ogres. The American Indian is the ...
— The Cup of Fury - A Novel of Cities and Shipyards • Rupert Hughes

... are apparelled in long gowns, wearing kirtles, or shorter garments, under these; and are assuredly the most effeminate and cowardly nation in the world. On their heads they wear a caul or close bonnet, some of silk and some of hair, having the hair of their heads very long, and bound up in a knot on their crowns. Their nobles and governors wear hoods of sundry fashions, some being one half like a ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. VIII. • Robert Kerr

... it, then cut a long hole in it, and stuff it with crumbs of bread, chopped, an anchovy, a good deal of fat bacon, onion, salt, pepper, a bit of butter, and an egg; sew the liver up, lard it, wrap it in a veal caul, and roast it. Serve with good brown ...
— A Poetical Cook-Book • Maria J. Moss

... up the heart, liver, lights, and the fat crow; season well with pepper, salt, allspice, thyme, sage, and shalots, and divide this sausage-meat into balls the size of an apple, which must be each secured in shape with a piece of pig's caul fastened with a wooden twig, or skewer, and placed in rows in a tin baking-dish, to be baked for about half an hour in a brisk oven. When the faggots are done, place them on some well-boiled cabbages, chopped up, in an earthen dish, and having poured the grease from the ...
— A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes • Charles Elme Francatelli

... take white Lilly roots, stamp them, and strain them, put the Juice of them into the Glass with the Snails, then set a Skillet on the fire with fair water, and let it boil, then put your dried Lambs Caul into an earthen basin, and let it melt, then take your Glass with Snails and roots, and drain it through a thick cloth, then put it into that tried stuff, then take half an Ounce of white Sugar-Candy unbeaten put it in, and stir it over ...
— The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet • Hannah Wolley

... during the reigns of Henry and Edward, was very splendid. The veils and wimples were richly embroidered, and worked in gold; the surcoat and mantle were worn of the richest materials; and the hair was turned up under a gold caul. ...
— Godey's Lady's Book, Vol. 42, January, 1851 • Various

... their host 560 At once the loathsome pestilence away! So Chryses prayed, whom Phoebus heard well-pleased; Then prayed the Grecians also, and with meal Sprinkling the victims, their retracted necks First pierced, then flay'd them; the disjointed thighs 565 They, next, invested with the double caul, Which with crude slices thin they overspread. The priest burned incense, and libation poured Large on the hissing brands, while, him beside, Busy with spit and prong, stood many a youth 570 Trained ...
— The Iliad of Homer - Translated into English Blank Verse • Homer



Words linked to "Caul" :   omentum, veil, placenta, greater omentum, fetal membrane, embryonic membrane



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