callus

Borrowed from Latin callum (“hard skin”).

• (General American, UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkæləs/

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• Rhymes: -æləs
• Homophone: callous

callus (plural calluses or calli)

1. A hardened area of the skin (especially on the foot or hand) caused by repeated friction, wear or use.
   • 2011, David Foster Wallace, The Pale King, page 17:

     Sylvanshine had once been on a first date with a Xerox rep who had complex and slightly repulsive patterns of callus on her fingers from playing the banjo semi-professionally

2. The material of repair in fractures of bone; a substance exuded at the site of fracture, which is at first soft or cartilaginous in consistency, but is ultimately converted into true bone and unites the fragments into a single piece.
3. (botany) The new formation over the end of a cutting, before it puts out rootlets.
4. (entomology) A shining area on the frons of many species of Tabanomorpha (horse flies and relatives).

callus (third-person singular simple present calluses, present participle callusing, simple past and past participle callused)

1. (intransitive) To form such hardened tissue.

• sulcal