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caltrop

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caltrop

 

  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Caltrop  \Cal"trop\,  Caltrap  \Cal"trap\,  n.  [OE.  calketrappe 
  calletrappe  caltor  (in  both  senses),  fr  AS  collr[ae]ppe, 
  calcetreppe  sort  of  thistle;  cf  F.  chaussetrape  star 
  thistle,  trap,  It  calcatreppo  calcatreppolo  star  thistle. 
  Perh.  from  L.  calx  heel  +  the  same  word  as  E.  trap.  See  1st 
  {Trap}.] 
  1.  (Bot.)  A  genus  of  herbaceous  plants  ({Tribulus})  of  the 
  order  {Zygophylle[ae]},  having  a  hard  several-celled 
  fruit,  armed  with  stout  spines,  and  resembling  the 
  military  instrument  of  the  same  name  The  species  grow  in 
  warm  countries,  and  are  often  very  annoying  to  cattle. 
 
  2.  (Mil.)  An  instrument  with  four  iron  points,  so  disposed 
  that  any  three  of  them  being  on  the  ground,  the  other 
  projects  upward.  They  are  scattered  on  the  ground  where  an 
  enemy's  cavalry  are  to  pass,  to  impede  their  progress  by 
  endangering  the  horses'  feet. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  caltrop 
  n  1:  tropical  annual  procumbent  poisonous  subshrub  having  fruit 
  that  splits  into  five  spiny  nutlets;  serious  pasture 
  weed  [syn:  {devil's  weed},  {Tribulus  terestris}] 
  2:  a  plant  of  the  genus  Trapa  bearing  spiny  four-pronged  edible 
  nutlike  fruits  [syn:  {water  chestnut},  {water  chestnut 
  plant}] 
  3:  Mediterannean  annual  or  biennial  herb  having  pinkish  to 
  purple  flowers  surrounded  by  spine-tipped  scales; 
  naturalized  in  America  [syn:  {star-thistle},  {Centauria 
  calcitrapa}]




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