Word.ws English Dictionary

cal

/kæl/

cal is the clipping of calorie.

cal is the clipping of caliber.

cal is the clipping of calendar.

cal is the clipping of calibration.

cal is the clipping of calculator.

Meaning of calorie

Noun

calorie (plural calories)

  1. (nutrition) A non-SI unit of energy, equivalent to 4.184 kilojoules, that can raise the temperature of a kilogram of water by one degree Celsius. This is the unit normally used in food labeling.
    • Holonyms: megacalorie < gigacalorie
  2. (physical) A non-SI unit of energy, equivalent to 4.184 joules, that can raise the temperature of a gram of water by one degree Celsius. This unit was formerly widely used in chemistry and physics.
    • Holonyms: kilocalorie, calorie (large-calorie sense), large calorie, Calorie (capital C) < megacalorie < gigacalorie

See all 3 meanings of calorie

Meaning of caliber

Noun

caliber (countable and uncountable, plural calibers)

  1. (US) Diameter of the bore of a firearm, typically measured between opposite lands.
  2. (US) The diameter of round or cylindrical body, as of a bullet, a projectile, or a column.
  3. (US) A nominal name for a cartridge type, which may not exactly indicate its true size and may include other measurements such as cartridge length or black powder capacity. Eg 7.62×39 or 38.40.
  4. (US) Unit of measure used to express the length of the bore of a weapon. The number of calibres is determined by dividing the length of the bore of the weapon, from the breech face of the tube to the muzzle, by the diameter of its bore. A gun tube the bore of which is 40 feet (480 inches) long and 12 inches in diameter is said to be 40 calibers long.
  5. (US, figuratively) Relative size, importance, magnitude.
    • A snort of about the calibre of an explosion in an ammunition dump escaped my late father's sister.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC
  6. (US, figuratively) Capacity or compass of mind.

See all 8 meanings of caliber

Noun (1)

cal (uncountable)

  1. (Cornwall, UK, archaic, dialectal) wolfram, an ore of tungsten.

Noun (2)

cal (uncountable)

  1. Calcium hydroxide (slaked lime).

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Cal

Cal

  1. A short form of the male given names Caleb, Calum or Calvin.
  2. A diminutive of the female given name Caroline.
  3. (informal) University of California, Berkeley
  4. (informal, uncommon) California.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Cal

Cal (plural Cals)

  1. A surname.

Forms of cal

Noun
pluralcals
Proper noun
pluralCals

Origin of cal

Clippings.

Clipping of calcium hydroxide.

Various origins: * Borrowed from Spanish Cal. This surname is mostly found in Guatemala. * Borrowed from Polish Cal. * Borrowed from Turkish Çal.

Words formed from cal

Phrases with cal

Words that rhyme with cal

11 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about cal

What does cal mean?
Cal means wolfram, an ore of tungsten.
What is cal the clipping of?
Cal is the clipping of calorie.
What part of speech is cal?
Cal can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce cal?
Cal is pronounced /kæl/.
What is the plural of cal?
The plural of cal is cals.

Words near cal in the dictionary

  1. cakravartin
  2. cakravartins
  3. caks
  4. CAKUT
  5. caky
  6. cal
  7. Cal king
  8. Cal kings
  9. Cal Poly
  10. Cal Poly Pomona
  11. Cal State

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cal (page history and authors); Cal (page history and authors); calorie (page history and authors); caliber (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “cal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.