samite

English

Etymology

From Old French samit, from Medieval Latin samitum, examitum, from Byzantine Greek ἑξάμιτον (hexámiton), from ἕξ (héx, “six”) + μίτος (mítos, “thread”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsæmaɪt/

Noun

samite (countable and uncountable, plural samites)

1. A material of rich silk, sometimes with gold threads, especially prized during the Middle Ages.
   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Vivien”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 104–105:

     [A] robe / Of samite without price, that more exprest / Than hid her, clung about her lissome limbs, / In colour like the satin-shining palm / On sallows in the windy gleams of March: [...]

   • 1903, Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights:

     And in the center of that lake there hath for some time been seen the appearance as of a women's arm--exceedingly beautiful and clad in white samite, and the hand of this arm holdeth a sword of such exceeding excellence and beauty that no eye hath ever beheld like.

Anagrams

• Amesti, Maties, aimest, maiest, maties, misate, miseat, semita, tamise