Definition of "calamus" [cal•a•mus]

• See sweet flag. (noun)
• The aromatic underground stem of the sweet flag, yielding an oil used in perfumery. (noun)
• Any of various chiefly tropical Asian climbing palms of the genus Calamus, having strong flexible stems used as a source of rattan. (noun)
• See quill. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Herophilus, after whom the torcular herophili within the skull is named, and who invented the term calamus scriptorius for certain appearances in the fourth ventricle."
• "For writing upon paper or parchment, the Romans employed a reed, sharpened and split in the point like our pens, called calamus, arundo, or canna."
• "The "calamus" followed the "brush," just as phonographic writing which denotes arbitrary sounds or the language of symbols, came after the picture or ideographic writing."