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Webster 1913 Edition


Callow

Cal′low

,
Adj.
[OE.
calewe
,
calu
, bald, AS.
calu
; akin to D.
kaal
, OHG.
chalo
, G.
Kuhl
; cf. L.
calvus
.]
1.
Destitute of feathers; naked; unfledged.
An in the leafy summit, spied a nest,
Which, o’er the
callow
young, a sparrow pressed.
Dryden.
2.
Immature; boyish; “green”;
as, a
callow
youth
.
I perceive by this, thou art but a
callow
maid.
Old Play [1675].

Cal-low′

,
Noun.
(Zool.)
[Named from its note.]
A kind of duck. See
Old squaw
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Callow

CALLOW

,
Adj.
Destitute of feathers, naked; unfledged; as a young bird.

Definition 2024


callow

callow

English

Adjective

callow (comparative callower or more callow, superlative callowest or most callow)

  1. (obsolete) Bald.
  2. Unfledged (of a young bird).
    • Dryden
      And in the leafy summit spy'd a nest, / Which, o'er the callow young, a sparrow pressed.
  3. Immature, lacking in life experience.
    Those three young men are particularly callow youths.
  4. Lacking color or firmness (of some kinds of insects or other arthropods, such as spiders, just after ecdysis). Teneral.
  5. Shallow or weak-willed.
  6. Unburnt (of a brick)

Translations

Noun

callow (countable and uncountable, plural callows)

  1. A callow young bird.
  2. A callow or teneral phase of an insect or other arthropod, typically shortly after ecdysis, while the skin still is hardening, the colours have not yet become stable, and as a rule, before the animal is able to move effectively.

Anagrams