silk : Idioms & Phrases

• noun tall perennial herb of tropical Asia with dark green leaves; cultivated for the fiber from its woody stems that resembles flax
  Boehmeria nivea; China grass; ramie; ramee.
  

WordNet

• noun each of the long filamentous styles that grow as a silky tuft at the tip of an ear of Indian corn
  cornsilk.
  

WordNet

Crow"-silk` noun

Definitions

1. (Bot.) A filamentous fresh-water alga (Conferva rivularis of Linnaeus, Rhizoclonium rivulare of Kutzing).

Webster 1913

• silk that has been twisted, and which retains its loose and downy character. It is much used in embroidery. Called also floxed silk.

Webster 1913

Floxed" silk`

Definitions

1. See Floss silk, under Floss.

Webster 1913

• fine threads of glass, wound, when in fusion, on rapidly rotating heated cylinders.

Webster 1913

• silk rendered waterproof by saturation with boiled oil.

Webster 1913

• silk as it is wound off from the cocoons, and before it is manufactured.

Webster 1913

• noun a plant fiber from the red silk-cotton tree of eastern India; inferior to kapok
  

WordNet

• noun East Indian silk cotton tree yielding fibers inferior to kapok
  Bombax malabarica; simal; Bombax ceiba.
  

WordNet

• noun a plant fiber from the kapok tree; used for stuffing and insulation
  silk cotton; kapok.
  

WordNet

• a cottony substance enveloping the seeds of the silk-cotton tree.

Webster 1913

• . (Bot.) (a) The silk tree . (b) A similar tree (Calliandra trinervia) of Peru.

Webster 1913

• (Zoöl.), a breed of domestic fowls having silky plumage.

Webster 1913

• noun silk-producing gland of insects (especially of a silkworm) or spiders
  serictery; sericterium.
  

WordNet

• (Zoöl.), a gland which secretes the material of silk, as in spider or a silkworm; a sericterium.

Webster 1913

• the distinctive robe of a barrister who has been appointed king's or queen's counsel; hence, the counsel himself. Such a one has precedence over mere barristers, who wear stuff gowns. Eng.

Webster 1913

• noun valuable forage grass of dry upland areas and plains of western North America to northern Mexico
  Oryzopsis hymenoides; Indian millet; silkgrass; mountain rice.
  

WordNet

• (Bot.), a kind of grass (Stipa comata) of the Western United States, which has very long silky awns. The name is also sometimes given to various species of the genera Aqave and Yucca.

Webster 1913

• noun a man's hat with a tall crown; usually covered with silk or with beaver fur
  dress hat; stovepipe; top hat; topper; beaver; high hat; opera hat.
  

WordNet

• (Zoöl.), the adult moth of any silkworm. See Silkworm.

Webster 1913

• noun any of several Australian timber trees having usually fernlike foliage and mottled wood used in cabinetry and veneering
  

WordNet

• noun an ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean (4,000 miles); followed by Marco Polo in the 13th century to reach Cathay
  

WordNet

• noun a print made using a stencil process in which an image or design is superimposed on a very fine mesh screen and printing ink is squeegeed onto the printing surface through the area of the screen that is not covered by the stencil
  serigraph; silkscreen.
  

WordNet

• a coarse, rough-woven silk, like plush, but with a stiffer nap.

Webster 1913

• (Zoöl.), a large spider (Nephila plumipes), native of the Southern United States, remarkable for the large quantity of strong silk it produces and for the great disparity in the sizes of the sexes.

Webster 1913

• noun women's stockings made from a sheer material (nylon or rayon or silk)
  rayons; nylon stocking; rayon stocking; nylons.
  

WordNet

• one who twists or spins silk, and prepares it for weaving. Brande & C.

Webster 1913

• noun attractive domed or flat-topped Asiatic tree having bipinnate leaves and flowers with long silky stamens
  Albizzia julibrissin; Albizia julibrissin.
  

WordNet

• (Bot.), an Asiatic leguminous tree (Albizzia Julibrissin) with finely bipinnate leaves, and large flat pods; so called because of the abundant long silky stamens of its blossoms. Also called silk flower.

Webster 1913

• . (Zoöl.) Same as Silk gland, above.

Webster 1913

• noun deciduous climber for arches and fences having ill-scented but interesting flowers and poisonous yellow fruits; cultivated for its dark shining foliage; southeastern Europe to Asia Minor
  Periploca graeca.
  

WordNet

• noun a fast-growing tropical American evergreen having white flowers and white fleshy edible fruit; bark yields a silky fiber used in cordage and wood is valuable for staves
  calabura; Muntingia calabura; silkwood; Jamaican cherry; calabur tree.
  

WordNet

• noun massive tropical tree with deep ridges on its massive trunk and bearing large pods of seeds covered with silky floss; source of the silky kapok fiber
  Ceiba pentandra; God tree; Bombay ceiba; kapok; silk-cotton tree; ceiba tree.
  

WordNet

• (Bot.), a name for several tropical trees of the genera Bombax and Eriodendron, and belonging to the order Bombaceæ. The trees grow to an immense size, and have their seeds enveloped in a cottony substance, which is used for stuffing cushions, but can not be spun.

Webster 1913

• adjective satellite having a silk lining
  

WordNet

• a cheap article produced from floss, or short-fibered, broken, and waste silk, carded and spun, in distinction from the long filaments wound from the cocoon. It is often mixed with cotton.

Webster 1913

• silk thread consisting of two or more singles twisted together like a rope, in a direction contrary to that in which the singles of which it is composed are twisted. M'Culloch.

Webster 1913

Tus"sah silk`

Etymology

Probably fr. Hind. tasar a shuttle, Skr. tasara, trasara.

Definitions

1. A silk cloth made from the cocoons of a caterpillar other than the common silkworm, much used in Bengal and China.
2. The silk fiber itself. Written also tusseh silk.

Webster 1913

• noun a plant fiber from the kapok tree; used for stuffing and insulation
  silk cotton; kapok.
  

WordNet

• a cottonlike, fibrous material obtained from the coating of the seeds of a Brazilian tree (Chorisia speciosa). It us used for various purposes, as for stuffing, and the like, but is incapable of being spun on account of a want of cohesion among the fibers.

Webster 1913

• (Bot.), a climbing plant (Periploca Gr&ae;ca) of the Milkweed family, having a silky tuft on the seeds. It is native in Southern Europe.

Webster 1913

• noun silk fabric with a wavy surface pattern
  moire.
  

WordNet

• noun massive tropical tree with deep ridges on its massive trunk and bearing large pods of seeds covered with silky floss; source of the silky kapok fiber
  Ceiba pentandra; God tree; Bombay ceiba; kapok; silk-cotton tree; ceiba tree.
  

WordNet