Ca·lais

(kă-lā′, kăl′ā)

A city of northern France on the Strait of Dover opposite Dover, England. The city fell to the English in 1347 after a siege of 11 months and was retaken by the French in 1558.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Calais

(ˈkæleɪ; French kalɛ)

(Placename) a port in N France, on the Strait of Dover: the nearest French port to England; belonged to England 1347–1558. Pop: 75 790 (2006)

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Cal•ais

(ˈkæl eɪ, kæˈleɪ, ˈkæl ɪs)

n.

a seaport in N France, on the Strait of Dover: the French port nearest England. 76,935.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

Calais - a town in northern France on the Strait of Dover that serves as a ferry port to England; in 1347 it was captured by the English king Edward III after a long siege and remained in English hands until it was recaptured by the French king Henry II in 1558

France, French Republic - a republic in western Europe; the largest country wholly in Europe

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References in classic literature

D'Artagnan was not perhaps so gay this time as he would have been with the prospect of finding some good friends at Calais, instead of joining the ten scamps there; melancholy, however, did not visit him more than once a day, and it was about five visits that he received from that somber deity before he got sight of the sea at Boulogne, and then these visits were indeed but short.

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Off that place, one of the three had inquired at what time they would reach Calais. On being informed that the steamer was bound to Rotterdam, the spokesman of the party expressed the greatest surprise and distress at the mistake which he and his two friends had made.

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He departed for Calais, and having reached that place in safety, it might have been supposed that he went to Dover; but instead he took the diligence to Dunkirk, and thence travelled to Brussels, for which place he had a former predilection.

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He had asked the prisoner, aboard the Calais packet, if he wanted a handy fellow, and the prisoner had engaged him.

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If Bordeaux and Calais be gone, then what is left for England?"

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The passengers were landing from the packet on the pier at Calais. A low-lying place and a low-spirited place Calais was, with the tide ebbing out towards low water-mark.

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Let us sail before the wind, and unless it changes we shall be drifted either to Calais or Boulogne.

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--Gayer sallies, more merry mirth, better jokes, and brighter repartees, you never heard over your mahogany, than you will hear over the half-inch white cedar of the whale-boat, when thus hung in hangman's nooses; and, like the six burghers of Calais before King Edward, the six men composing the crew pull into the jaws of death, with a halter around every neck, as you may say.

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The same night Old Sharon started for France, by way of Dover and Calais.

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Men made songs and sang of his victories, of Crecy and of Calais, and France bowed the knee to England.

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I will neither open my mouth nor draw my sword between this and Calais. I swear by--"

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Having been thus harassed in my thoughts, my old pilot, to whom I communicated everything, pressed me earnestly not to go by sea, but either to go by land to the Groyne, and cross over the Bay of Biscay to Rochelle, from whence it was but an easy and safe journey by land to Paris, and so to Calais and Dover; or to go up to Madrid, and so all the way by land through France.

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