Also 6–8 caliver, 8 calabar, calliber, -bre, caliper, calabre. [a. F. calibre (qualibre in Cotgr. 1611) = It. calibro, Sp. calibre (OSp. also calibo, Diez) of uncertain origin; the Arab. qālib ‘mould for casting metal,’ or some cognate derivative of qalaba to turn, has been suggested as the source. See CALLIPER.
(Mahn conjectured as source L. quâ librâ of what weight?)
Calibre and Calliper(s are apparently originally the same word. Several 16th-c. writers assign the same origin to CALIVER, the name of a species of harquebus, as if this were derived from arquebuse de calibre, or some similar name. Littré has ‘douze canons de calibre d’empereur (12 cannons of emperor’s calibre) pour la batterie’ of 16th c. The frequent use of caliver in the sense of calibre, in the 16th and 17th c., appears to favor this.]
1. † a. The diameter of a bullet, cannon-ball, or other projectile. Obs. b. Hence, The internal diameter or ‘bore’ of a gun.
(As the ‘calibre’ of a piece of ordnance determines the weight of the projectile it can throw, phrases like ‘guns of heavy calibre’ often occur in popular use.)
1588. E. York, Ord. Marshall. City London, in Stow’s Surv. (1754), II. V. xxxi. 570/1. We had our particular Calibre of Harquebuze … The Prynces … caused seven thousand Harquebuzes to be made, all of one Calibre.
1591. Sir J. Smythe, Instruct. Militarie, 189. I would that all their bullettes should be of one Caliuer and heigth. Ibid. (a. 1595), Animadv. Capt. Berwick, in Grose, Mil. Antiq. (1801), 297. A harquebuze and a currier, both … of one caliver heighthe of bullet.
1678. Phillips, Caliber, in Gunnery the heighth of the bore in any peice of Ordnance.
1708. Kersey, Caliver or Caliper, the Bigness, or rather the Diameter of a piece of Ordnance, or any other Fire-arms at the Bore or Mouth.
1746. Rep. Cond. Sir J. Cope, 99. All the Cannon was of the same Caliber, being 11/2 Pounders.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., The caliber is the rule by which all the parts of a cannon, or mortar, as well as of its carriage, are proportioned.
1778. Phil. Trans., LXVIII. 65. The bore … was nearly 201/2 calibers long.
1803. Wellington, Lett., in Gurw., Disp., II. 327. We drove them off, and have taken about 60 pieces of cannon, nearly all brass, of the largest calibres.
b. transf. The diameter of any body of circular section; esp. the internal diameter of a tube or hollow cylinder; in Phys. chiefly of an artery.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., Caliber or Caliper, in a general sense, notes the extent of any round thing in thickness, or diameter. In which sense we say, a column is of the same caliber as another, when they are both of the same diameter.
1764. Reid, Inquiry, vi. § 19. The caliber of these empty tubes.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 77/2. If we brace the arteries…, we shall find their calibres every where diminished.
2. fig. † a. Degree of social standing or importance, quality, rank. [The earliest cited sense; prob. from Fr.] Obs. b. Degree of personal capacity or ability: ‘weight’ of character; (often with conscious reference to 1). In wider sense: Quality, ‘stamp,’ degree of merit or importance.
1567. Fenton, Trag. Disc., 164. The forfeiture of the honor of a ladye of equall calibre [elsewhere spelt calabre] and callinge to mee.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Σκιαμαχια, Wks. (1711), 199. Sir Henry Vane, or others of such Calibre?
1791. Burke, App. Whigs, Wks. VI. 108. Declamations of this kind coming from men of their Calibre … were highly mischievous.
1808. Scott, in Lockhart, i. (1842), 9/1. The calibre of this young man’s understanding.
1826. J. Gilchrist, Lecture, 55. We know the Doctor’s caliber well enough.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, Pref. Playing against an eleven of their own calibre.
1860. Mill, Repr. Govt. (1865), 57/2. Majorities would be compelled to look out for members of a much higher calibre.
1870. Disraeli, Lothair, xxviii. 128. The host headed the table, with the Duke of Brecon on his right and Lothair on his left hand, and ‘swells’ of calibre in their vicinity.
3. pl. calibers. = CALLIPERS.
4. attrib. and in comb., as in calibre-rule, -scale (see quots.); calibre-compasses, -squere: see CALLIPER
1729. Shelvocke, Artillery, I. 1. The Calibre Scale … an Instrument or Ruler … to determine the Weights of all Iron Bullets by their Diameters.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., Caliber-rule is an instrument, wherein a right line is so divided, as that the first part being equal to the diameter of an iron or leaden ball of one pound weight, the other parts are to the first, as the diameters of balls of two, three, four, etc., pounds, are to the diameter of a ball of one pound. The caliber is used by engineers, from the weight of the ball given, to determine its diameter, or caliber; or vice versa.
