Definition: Calendar

From New World Encyclopedia

Etymology

From Middle English kalender, from Old French calendier, from Latin calendarium (account book), from kalendae (the first day of the month), from calō (to announce solemnly, to call out (the sighting of the new moon)), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁-.

Noun

calendar (plural calendars)

  1. Any system by which time is divided into days, weeks, months, and years.
    The three principal calendars are the Gregorian, Jewish, and Islamic calendars.
  2. A means to determine the date consisting of a document containing dates and other temporal information.
    Write his birthday on the calendar hanging on the wall.
  3. A list of planned events.
    The club has a busy calendar this year.
  4. An orderly list or enumeration of persons, things, or events; a schedule.
    A calendar of bills presented in a legislative assembly;  a calendar of causes arranged for trial in court
  5. (US) An appointment book, appointment diary (UK).

Usage notes

Calendar should not be confused with calender.

Derived terms

  • Advent calendar
  • calendar day
  • calendarist
  • calendaristic
  • calendar month
  • calendar year
  • calendric
  • calendrical
  • Chinese calendar
  • cosmic calendar
  • desktop calendar
  • Gregorian calendar
  • Hebrew calendar
  • Islamic calendar
  • Jewish calendar
  • Julian calendar
  • lunar calendar
  • lunisolar calendar
  • Mayan Long Count calendar
  • solar calendar

Verb

calendar (third-person singular simple present calendars, present participle calendaring, simple past and past participle calendared)

  1. (law) To set a date for a proceeding in court, usually done by a judge at a calendar call.
    The judge agreed to calendar a hearing for pretrial motions for the week of May 15, but did not agree to calendar the trial itself on a specific date.
  2. To enter or write in a calendar; to register.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors copied and adjusted this Wiktionary entry in accordance with NWE standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit for this article is due to both New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions at Wiktionary is accessible to researchers here: