n. A reed; cane.n. A kind of fragrant plant mentioned in the Bible (Ex. xxx. 23, etc.), and supposed to be the sweet-flag, Acorus Calamus, or the fragrant lemon-grass of India, Andropogon Schœnanthus; the sweet-flag.n. [capitalized] A very large genus of slender, leafy, climbing palms, natives chiefly of eastern Asia and the adjacent islands.n. A tube, usually of gold or silver, through which it was customary in the ancient church to receive the wine in communicating.n. In music, a flute or pipe made of reed.n. In ornithology, the hard, horny, hollow, and more or less transparent part of the stem or scape of a feather; the barrel, tube, or quill proper, which bears no vexilla, and extends from the end of the feather inserted in the skin to the beginning of the rachis where the web or vane commences. See cut under aftershaft.n. An ancient Greek measure of length of 10 feet.n. [capitalized] A genus of fishes, the porgies, belonging to the family Sparidæ.