A caul is a membrane a baby is occasionally born wearing. Born with a caul, the caul was kept, a child of the caul.
It happens in about one birth in eighty thousand and was held to protect against drowning, so sailors bought them at high prices. The word also names the fatty membrane around an animal's organs, used in cooking.
1nouncaulA membrane a baby is occasionally born wearing.
“The midwife said the baby had been born with a caul over its face, which was once thought lucky.”
caul is a membrane.
Middle English calle first meant a net or covering, from Old English cawl, a basket or net.
Old French
cale — close-fitting cap
Old English
cāwl
Middle English
calle
English, today
caul
Built from
From Middle English calle, kelle, kalle, kolle (“caul, net, basket”), from Old English cāwl, cāul, cēawl, cēaul (“basket, container, net, sieve”), of unknown origin. Reinforced by Old French cale (“close-fitting cap”), possibly a borrowing of the Old English - term above, or alternatively related to calotte, from callotta, from calautica, itself of unknown origin. Cognate with Scots kell (“caul”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA