cauls

noun

1. a part of the amnion sometimes covering the head of a child at birth.
2. greater omentum.
3. a net lining in the back of a woman’s cap or hat.
4. a cap or hat of net formerly worn by women.

noun

1. a form or plate for pressing a veneer or veneers being glued to a backing or to each other.

noun anatomy

1. a portion of the amniotic sac sometimes covering a child’s head at birth
2. a large fold of peritoneum hanging from the stomach across the intestines; the large omentum

n.

early 14c., “close-fitting cap worn by women,” from French cale “cap,” back-formation from calotte, from Italian callotta, from Latin calautica “type of female headdress with pendent lappets,” a foreign word of unknown origin. Medical use, in reference to various membranes, dates to late 14c. Especially of the amnion enclosing the fetus before birth from 1540s. This, if the child is born draped in it, was supersititously supposed to protect against drowning (cauls were advertised for sale in British newspapers through World War I).

n.

1. A portion of the amnion, especially when it covers the head of a fetus at birth.veil
2. greater omentum