See Also: callow(dictionary)
callow(dictionary)

callow (iou)



callow adjective & noun.
[Old English calu = Middle Low German kale, Middle Dutch kale (Dutch kaal), Old High German kalo (German kahl) from West Germanic, prob. from Latin calvus bald.]
A. adjective.
Bald. OE-LME.
Unfledged; downy, downlike; chiefly fig.: inexperienced, raw, youthful. L16.
Dryden The callow Down began to cloath my Chin. C. Lamb The first callow flights in authorship. N. Mitford The callow young world of my acquaintance.
Of land: bare; Anglo-Irish low-lying and liable to flooding. L17.
b. noun.
A bald person. Only in ME.
A callow nestling; a raw youth. M-L17.
Topsoil, overburden. dial. M19.
A low-lying meadow liable to flooding. Anglo-Irish. M19.
callowly adverb L20.
callowness noun M19.