Irish–English dictionary

calc

(intransitive) Of blood or other liquid, to dry out and become hard.

calcalas

(countable, mathematics) Any formal system in which symbolic expressions are manipulated according to fixed rules.

Calcúta

The capital city of West Bengal, India, formerly known in English as Calcutta.

callaire

An electromechanical transducer that converts an electrical signal into audible sound.

callán

Any loud and continued noise.

callánach

Creating a loud noise. (of people, animals or things)

callóid

(countable) An angry dispute; a noisy quarrel; an altercation.

calma

Courageous.

calmacht

(uncountable) Distinguished bravery or courage, especially in battle; heroism.

calóg shneachta

A crystal of snow, having approximate hexagonal symmetry.

calóga arbhair

A breakfast cereal made from toasted flakes of maize.

Calvaire

The hill outside Jerusalem which is traditionally held to be the location of the crucifixion of Jesus.

cam

(derogatory, colloquial, chiefly, UK) Homosexual.

camall

A mammalian beast of burden, much used in desert areas, of the genus Camelus.

camán

(countable) A stick used in the game of hurling.

Camarún

A country in Central Africa. Official name: Republic of Cameroon. Capital: Yaoundé. It also claims Ambazonia.

camastaíl

(uncountable) The characteristic or condition of being dishonest.

Cambódach

of, from, or pertaining to Cambodia, the Cambodian people, or the Khmer language

Cambóid

A country in Southeast Asia. Official name: Kingdom of Cambodia. Capital: Phnom Penh. Former name: Kampuchea.

Cambóidis

A member of an ethnolinguistic group that constitutes most of the population of Cambodia.

camhaoir

(uncountable) The morning twilight period immediately before sunrise.

camóg

A specialized staff with a semi-circular bend (a "hook") at one end used by shepherds to control their herds.

campáil

(uncountable) The recreational or educational activity of temporarily living in a tent or similar accommodation.

campálaí

A person who camps, especially in a tent etc.

camrasáin

(countable, uncountable) Deception, deceit or underhanded behavior.

can

To sing, especially without instruments, and as applied to monophonic and pre-modern music.

canablach

An organism which eats others of its own or similar species or kind, especially a human or other human-like creature such as a zombie who consumes human flesh.

canadh

The act of using the voice to produce musical sounds; vocalizing.

canáil

An artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation.

canathaobh

(interrogative) For what cause, reason, or purpose.

canbhás

(nautical) That part of the poop deck which is continued forward beyond the bulkhead of the cabin.

candam

(physics) The smallest possible, and therefore indivisible, unit of a given quantity or quantifiable phenomenon. [from 20th c.]

cangarú

A member of the Macropodidae family of large marsupials with strong hind legs for hopping, native to Australia. [from 18th c.]

cangarú óg

Ellipsis of joey word.

canmhar

(informal) Of a person, chatting a lot or fond of chatting.

Cannadais

The Dravidian language that is the official language of the state of Karnataka, India.

cannú

The process of preserving food by heat processing in a sealed vessel (a jar or can).

canónaigh

(chiefly, Roman Catholicism) To declare (a deceased person) as a saint, and enter them into the canon of saints.

Cantainis

(uncountable) A dialect of the Cantonese language, spoken in Guangzhou (Canton), Hong Kong, Macau, and treated as the standard dialect of the Cantonese language.

cantaire

One who chants or sings.

cantaireacht

The act of using the voice to produce musical sounds; vocalizing.

cantal

The state of being peevish.

cantalach

Grouchy, grumpy, irritable; easily upset.

cantalán

One who is grumpy or irritable. [from the early 20th c]

cantalóir

One who is grumpy or irritable. [from the early 20th c]

cantalúp

Cucumis melo Cantalupensis Group, a cultivar group melon with sweet aromatic orange flesh, including two main types:

cantlamh

The state of being peevish.

Cantún na Ginéive

A canton of Switzerland.

canú

(watercraft) A small long and narrow boat, propelled by one or more people (depending on the size of canoe), using single-bladed paddles. The paddlers face in the direction of travel, in either a seated position, or kneeling on the bottom of the boat. Canoes are open on top, and pointed at both ends.

caoch

(transitive) To make temporarily or permanently blind.

caoch rua

A disease of plants caused by a reddish-brown fungus.

caoga

The cardinal number occurring after forty-nine and before fifty-one.

caogaidí

The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.

caoile

(phonology, uncountable) The state or quality of being palatalized, of pronouncing a sound with the tongue against the palate of the mouth that normally is not.

Caoimhín

A en given name.

caoin

(intransitive) To shed tears; to weep. Especially in anger or sadness

caoineadh

A mournful poem or piece of music composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person.

caoireoil

The meat of sheep used as food.

caol

Weak; reduced in strength by dilution; diluted.

caol ard

(informal, pejorative) Tall, slim, and rather ungraceful or awkward.

caol na coise

The skeletal joint which connects the foot with the leg; the uppermost portion of the foot and lowermost portion of the leg, which contain this skeletal joint.

caol na láimhe

(anatomy) The complex joint between forearm bones, carpus, and metacarpals where the hand is attached to the arm; the carpus in a narrow sense.

caolach

A construction of branches and twigs woven together to form a wall, barrier, fence, or roof.

caolas

(geography) A long narrow inlet, or a strait between the mainland and an island; also, a strait connecting two seas, or connecting a sea or lake with the ocean.

caolas tráchta

(figurative) In traffic, any narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay.

caolchúiseach

Of an argument or concept, words, etc.: requiring one to distinguish between fine points, especially if it is difficult to do so; nice; also (generally) , difficult to grasp; not easily understood or obvious.

caolsáile

A long, narrow, deep inlet between cliffs.

caolsráid

A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings.

caomhnaigh

To protect; to keep from harm or injury.

caonach

Any of various small, green, seedless plants growing on the ground or on the surfaces of trees, stones, etc.; now specifically, a plant of the phylum Bryophyta (formerly division Musci).

caonach liath

(plant disease) A growth of minute powdery or webby fungi, whitish or of different colors, found on various diseased or decaying substances.

caor phéine

A seed-bearing conical fruit of a pine tree.

caora

A female sheep, as opposed to a ram.

caorán

An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light (and usually acidic) soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath. (Compare bog, peatland, marsh, swamp, fen.)

caordhearg

That glows or glow.

caorthann

Sorbus aucuparia, the European rowan.

caorthann corraigh

(uncountable) The root of Valeriana officinalis, used in herbal medicine.

capaillín

A small horse; specifically, any of several small breeds of horse under 14.2 hands at the withers.

capaillín Spáinneach

A small Spanish horse.

capall alabhreac

A horse with a patchy coloration that includes a white color.

capall Arabach

An Arabian horse.

capall breac

A horse with a patchy coloration that includes a white color.

Capall Eitilte

(constellation) A constellation of the northern sky, near the vernal equinoctial point, representing the winged horse. Its three brightest stars, with the brightest star of Andromeda, form the asterism of the Great Square of Pegasus.

capall fiaigh

A horse used in hunting, especially a thoroughbred, bred and trained for hunting.

capall oibre

A horse used primarily for manual labor; a draft horse.

capall rása

A horse that competes in races.

capall seilge

A horse used in hunting, especially a thoroughbred, bred and trained for hunting.

capras

The pungent grayish green flower bud of the European and Oriental caper (Capparis spinosa), which is pickled and eaten.

captaen

(sports) The captain of a sports team such as football, cricket, rugby or curling.

cár

A contorted facial expression, often expressing contempt or pain.

cara

A person with whom one is vaguely or indirectly acquainted.

cara as Críost

A person who, at a child's naming ceremony or baptism, agrees to help raise the child, originally and especially in regard to their religious development.

cara rúin

A person in whom one can confide or share one's secrets: a friend.

carabú

Any of several North American subspecies Rangifer tarandus of the reindeer.

carachtar

(countable) A being involved in the action of a story; a persona.

caramal

(countable) A (sometimes hardened) piece of this confection.

carán

Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one.

carbad

A two-wheeled horse-drawn cart, used in Bronze Age and Early Iron Age warfare.

carbadóir

A person who drives a chariot.

carball

(often, in the plural) The flesh around the teeth.

carballach

(phonetics) Articulated at the hard palate.

carbán

Any of various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae; specifically the common carp, Cyprinus carpio.

carbán koi

Ornamental domesticated varieties of the Amur carp (Cyprinus rubrofuscus), of Japan and eastern Asia with red-gold or white coloring.

carbhán

A convoy or procession of travellers, their cargo and vehicles, and any pack animals, especially camels crossing a desert.

carbhat

A wide fabric band worn as a necktie by men having long ends hanging in front.

carbónáit

Any salt or ester of carbonic acid.

carbónmhar

(chemistry) Containing or producing carbon.

carbónúil

Of, relating to, rich in, or yielding carbon, or a compound of carbon.

carbradóir

(US, Canada) A device in an internal combustion engine where fuel is vaporized and mixed with air prior to ignition. [from 1890s]

carbuncal

(pathology) An abscess larger than a boil, usually with one or more openings draining pus onto the skin. It is usually caused by staphylococcal infection.

carcair

A place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention, especially (in US usage) a place where people are held for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.

carda

(textiles) A hand-held tool formed similarly to a hairbrush but with bristles of wire or other rigid material. It is used principally with raw cotton, wool, hair, or other natural fibers to prepare these materials for spinning into yarn or thread on a spinning wheel, with a whorl or other hand-held spindle. The card serves to untangle, clean, remove debris from, and lay the fibers straight.

cardáil

(textiles) To use a carding device to disentangle the fibres of wool prior to spinning.

cardashoithíoch

Relating to the circulatory system, that is the heart and blood vessels.

Carghas

(Christianity) A period of the ecclesiastical year preceding Easter, traditionally involving temporary abstention from certain foods and pleasures.

carn

A large flock of anything.

carnaid

(countable) A scale insect of the species Dactylopius coccus, native to the tropical and subtropical Americas, which lives on prickly pear cacti (genus Opuntia).

carnán

A pile or mass; a collection of things laid in a body, or thrown together so as to form an elevation.

carnán caochán

A small mound of earth created by a mole's burrowing underneath the surface of the ground.

caróg

Any of various dark-coloured nymphalid butterflies of the genus Euploea.

Carón

(Greek mythology) The ferryman of Hades, who rowed the shades of the dead across the river Styx.

carr

(US, Canada, Philippines, AU, NZ) A type of motor vehicle designed to move on the ground under its own stored power and intended to carry a driver, a small number of additional passengers, and a very limited amount of other load.

carr cliathánach

(historical) A kind of low-set horse-drawn open vehicle, used in Ireland, in which the passengers ride sideways, sitting back to back.

carr sleamhnáin

(British) any type of sled or sleigh.

carra mhilis

(countable) A plant of species Glycyrrhiza glabra, or sometimes in North America, the related American licorice plant Glycyrrhiza lepidota.

carrach

Abounding in, or full of, rocks; consisting of rocks.

carrachán linbh

(European folklore, also, figurative) In pre-modern European folklore: an infant of a magical creature that was secretly exchanged for a human infant. In British, Irish and Scandinavian mythology the exchanged infants were thought to be those of fairies, sprites or trolls; in other places, they were ascribed to demons, devils, or witches.

carraigeach

Abounding in, or full of, rocks; consisting of rocks.

carráiste

A (mostly four-wheeled) lighter vehicle chiefly designed to transport people, generally drawn by horse power.

carrchaladh

(watercraft) A boat or ship used to transport people, smaller vehicles and goods from one port to another, usually on a regular schedule.

carria

(countable) A male deer, especially the male of the red deer after his fifth year.

carrmhogal

(archaic) A deep-red or fiery colored garnet or other dark red precious stone, especially when cut cabochon.

cársán

A piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration.

cársánach

Having a dry, harsh tone to the voice, as a result of a sore throat, age, emotion, etc.

cárt

A unit of liquid capacity equal to two pints; one-fourth (quarter) of a gallon. Equivalent to 1.136 liters in the UK and 0.946 liter (liquid quart) or 1.101 liters (dry quart) in the U.S.

cárta

Any flat, normally rectangular piece of stiff paper, plastic, etc.

cárta Fhéile Vailintín

An expression of affection, especially romantic affection, usually in the form of greeting card, gift, or message given the object of one's affection, especially on February 14th.

cárta Lá Fhéile Vailintín

An expression of affection, especially romantic affection, usually in the form of greeting card, gift, or message given the object of one's affection, especially on February 14th.

cárta poist

(post) A rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically used for sending messages by mail without the need for an envelope.

cárta scóir

A printed card allowing spectators of a game to identify players and record progress.

cárta vailintín

An expression of affection, especially romantic affection, usually in the form of greeting card, gift, or message given the object of one's affection, especially on February 14th.

Cartagach

Of or pertaining to Carthage.

cartagrafaíocht

(uncountable) The creation of charts and maps based on the layout of a territory's geography. [from 19th c.]

Cartaig

(historical) An ancient city in North Africa, in modern Tunisia. [16th cent.]

carthanach

Kind, generous.

carthanacht

(countable) An organization, the objective of which is to carry out a charitable purpose.

cartlann

A place for storing earlier, and often historical, material. An archive usually contains documents (letters, records, newspapers, etc.) or other types of media kept for historical interest.

cartlannaí

One who is in charge of, or performs the task of creating, collecting, cataloguing and organising archives.

Cartúm

The capital city of Sudan.

cás

(legal) A charge or other process in a law court (also called lawsuit and actio).