Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
CALME, CAUM, Cam, Camb, n., v. Also caam.
I. n. “A name given to the small cords [or harness containing these] through which the warp is passed in the loom” (Sc. 1808 Jam., calmes, caums), the heddles. Known to Ags.1, Ags.17 1938. Gen. in pl.Ags. 1893 “F. Mackenzie” Cruisie Sketches xii.:
The lay's dune, the cam's dune, the treddles are dune, an' the very beam's worm-eaten.Ags. 1920 D. H. Edwards Glimpses of Men, etc. ii. 24:
When the paste dried, another brush smeared with tallow was drawn over the yarn to make it slide easily through the “caums.”
Comb.: camb-rollers, “rollers from which the leaves of a camb are suspended” (Fif.3 1930).
II. v. To adjust the fineness of warp yarn to the reed in a loom in order to produce the required texture of cloth. Esp. in vbl.n. caaming. Sc. 1807 J. Duncan Art of Weaving I 2:
In Scotland, the fineness of woollen and linen yarn is generally called its size or grist; and that of cotton yarn, its number: the measure of the reed is called its sett; and the art of proportioning these to each other, is called caaming or sleying.
