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callow

/ˈkaləʊ/

noun

Meaning

  • A callow young bird.

  • A callow or teneral phase of an insect or other arthropod, typically shortly after ecdysis, while the skin still is hardening, the colours have not yet become stable, and as a rule, before the animal is able to move effectively.

  • An alluvial flat.

adjective

Meaning

  • Unfledged (of a young bird).

  • (by extension) Immature, lacking in life experience.

    "Those three young men are particularly callow youths."

  • Lacking color or firmness (of some kinds of insects or other arthropods, such as spiders, just after ecdysis); teneral.

  • Shallow or weak-willed.

  • (of a brick) Unburnt.

  • Of land: low-lying and liable to be submerged.

  • Bald.