v. Obs. Also calfate, calfet, calfuter. [ad. F. calfrete-r (Cotgr.), calfater, calfeutrer to caulk (a ship). The word occurs also as It. calafatare, Sp. calafatear, -fetear; usually believed to be f. Arab. qalafa, in 2nd conjugation qallafa to caulk a ship with palm-tree fiber, etc.; cf. med.Gr. καλαφάτης caulker. The Fr. form calfeutrer is conjectured to have been influenced by feutre felt.] trans. To stop up (with oakum) the seams of (a ship); to caulk.
a. 1600. Hume, in Sibbald, Chron. Scot. Poetry (1802), III. 381 (Jam.). Weill calfuterd [printed calsutered] bots.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 482. They … therewith [viz. with reeds] calfret or calke the ioints of their ships.
1648. Hexham, Dutch Dict. (1660), Kleuteren … to give Knocks or Blowes, or to Calfate.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, II. xiii. The Plaintiff truly had just cause to calfet … the gallion.
