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silk
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Silk
English
Etymology
From Middle English silk, sylk, selk, selc, from Old English sioloc, seoloc, seolc (“silk”). The immediate source is uncertain; it probably reached English via the Baltic trade routes (cognates in Old Norse silki (> Danish silke, Swedish silke (“silk”)), Russian шёлк (šolk), obsolete Lithuanian zilkai̇̃), all ultimately from Late Latin sēricus, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós), ultimately from an Oriental language (represented now by e.g. Chinese 絲 / 丝 (sī, “silk”)). Compare Seres. Doublet of seric and serge.
Pronunciation
Noun
silk (countable and uncountable, plural silks)
- (chiefly uncountable) A fine fiber excreted by the silkworm or other arthropod (such as a spider).
- The thread made of silk was barely visible.
- A fine, soft cloth woven from silk fibers.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “His Own People”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 6:
- It was flood-tide along Fifth Avenue; motor, brougham, and victoria swept by on the glittering current; pretty women glanced out from limousine and tonneau; young men of his own type, silk-hatted, frock-coated, the crooks of their walking sticks tucked up under their left arms, passed on the Park side.
- Anything which resembles silk, such as the filiform styles of the female flower of maize, or the seed covering of bombaxes.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, “Dangerous Lady”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 36:
- Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.
- The gown worn by a Senior (i.e. Queen's/King's) Counsel.
- (colloquial) A Queen's Counsel, King's Counsel or Senior Counsel.
- (circus arts, in the plural) A pair of long silk sheets suspended in the air on which a performer performs tricks.
- (horse racing, usually in the plural) The garments worn by a jockey displaying the colors of the horse's owner.
Derived terms
- ahimsa silk
- cornsilk
- corn silk
- crow-silk
- desilk
- floss-silk
- floss silk
- flox silk
- glass silk
- golden silk orb-weaver
- hit the silk
- make a silk purse of a sow's ear
- nonsilk
- oiled silk
- peace silk
- raw silk
- sea silk
- silk-cotton tree
- silk elevator
- silken
- silker
- silkette
- silkgrass
- silkgrower
- silkgrowing
- silkless
- silklike
- silkman
- silk moss
- silkmoth
- silkness
- silk-oak
- silk oak
- silk paper
- silk press
- silkscreen
- silk screen effect
- silk-screen printing
- silk serge
- silk shag
- silk-stocking
- silkstone
- silktail
- silktassel
- silk tree
- silkware
- silkwear
- silkweaver
- silkweaving
- silkweed
- silkwoman
- silkwork
- silkworks
- silkworm
- silky
- smooth as silk
- soft as silk
- Sri Lankan tussar silk moth
- take silk
- widow's silk
- you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear
Descendants
- → Hawaiian: kilika
Translations
fiber
|
fabric
|
Verb
silk (third-person singular simple present silks, present participle silking, simple past and past participle silked)
- (transitive) To remove the silk from (corn).
- 2013, Lynetra T. Griffin, From Whence We Came, page 17:
- While we shucked and silked the corn, we talked, sang old nursery rhymes […]
See also
Anagrams
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Azerbaijani
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
silk (definite accusative silki, plural silklər)
Declension
Further reading
- “silk” in Obastan.com.
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