CALENDER

A machine for pre ing and smoothing cloth and other articles, which when so prepared are said to be calendered. It literally means hot-pre ing; from cater, heat. CALENDS, in the ancient Roman calendar, were the first days of each month. The Roman month was divided into three periods by the Calends, the Nones, and the Ides. The Calends were invariably placed at the beginning of the month; the Ides at the middle of the month, on the 13th or 15th; and the Nones (novem, nine) were the ninth day before the Ides, counting inclusively. From these three terms the days were counted backwards, in the following manner:— Those days comprised between the calends and the nones were denominated days before the nones; those between the nones and the ides, days before the ides; and those from the ides to the end of the month, days before the calends. Hence the phrases pridie calendas, tertio calendas, meaning the second day before the calends, or last day of the month, the third day before the calends, or last but one of the month (the calends or first day of the following month being included in the reckoning), and so on. In the months of March, May, July, and October, the ides fell on the 15th da.y, and the nones, consequently, on the 7th. In all the other months the ides fell on the 13th, and the nones, consequently, on the 7th. The number of days receiving their denomination from the calends depended on the number of days in the month and the day on which the ides fell. For example, if the month had thirty-one days, and the ides fell on the 13th (as happened in January, August, and December), there would remain eighteen days after the ides, which, added to the first of the following month, made nineteen days of calends. Hence the 14th day of January was styled the nineteenth before the calends of February; the following day, or 15th of the month, was Me eighteenth before the cale?ids, and so on. [s. 196]