Etymology Dictionary

CALENDER,  a machine for pressing and smoothing cloth.  (F.,—Gk.)   Best known from the occurrence of the word in Cowper's John Gilpin, where it is applied to a 'calender-er,' or person who calenders cloth, and where a more correct form would be calendrer.   In Bailey's Dict., ed. 1731, vol. ii, I find:  'To calender, to press, smooth, and set a gloss upon linnen, &c.; also the machine itself.'   β. The word is French.   The verb appears in Cotgrave, who has:  'Calendrer, to sleek, smooth, plane, or polish linnen cloth, &c.'   The F. sb. (from which the verb was formed) is calandre.—Low Lat. celendra, explained in Migne's edition of Ducange by:  'instrumentum quo poliuntur panni; [French] calandre.'   γ. Thus calandre is a corruption of celandre; and the Low Lat. celendra is, in its turn, a corruption of Lat. cylindrus, a cylinder, roller; the name being given to the machine because a roller was contained in it, and (probably later) sometimes two rollers in contact.—Gk. κύλινδρος, a cylinder.   See Cylinder.   Der. calender, verb; calendr-er, or calend-er, sb.