caul

plural cauls · alternative call · alternative cawl

1. historicalA style of close-fitting circular cap worn by women in the sixteenth century and later, often made of linen.First known use 14th c.

   Ne spared they to strip her naked all. / Then when they had despoild her tire and call, / Such as she was, their eyes might her behold […]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

2. UKcapitalizedhistoricaloftenAn entry to a mill lead taken from a burn or stream (a mill lead (or mill waterway) is generally smaller than a canal but moves a large volume of water).First known use chiefly 1800-1950
3. obsolete except in specific sensesanatomyA membrane.First known use 14th–17th c.
4. The thin membrane which covers the lower intestines; the omentum.First known use 14th c.
5. The amnion which encloses the foetus before birth, especially that part of it which sometimes shrouds a baby’s head at birth (traditionally considered to be good luck).First known use 16th c.

   I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas.

   1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC

   1 more example

   Even in the mid seventeenth century a country gentleman might regard his caul as a treasure to be preserved with great care, and bequeathed to his descendants.

   1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 182

6. The surface of a press that makes contact with panel product, especially a removable plate or sheet.
7. artsA strip or block of wood used to distribute or direct clamping force.
8. cookingCaul fat.