| 释义 |
▪ I. silk, n. and a.|sɪlk|
Forms: α. 1 sioloc, seoloc, seoluc, seolc, 3 seolk (solk), 4 seolke; 3 selc, 4–5 selk(e. β. 4 silc, 4– silk (6 silck), 4–7 silke; 4–5 sylk(e, 5 cylk(e, 6 sylcke.
[OE. sioloc, seoloc, etc. (for earlier *siluc) masc., varying in form and gender from ON. and Icel. silki neut. (Norw., Sw., and Da. silke); not found in the other Germanic languages, but represented also by OSlav. shelkŭ (Russ. shelk'). The ultimate source is commonly supposed to be L. sēricus or Gr. σηρικός silken, f. L. Sēres, Gr. σῆρες, the oriental people (perhaps the Chinese) from whom silk was first obtained. The change of r to l may have taken place in some language through which the word passed into Slavonic use and thence into the early Baltic trade.]
I.
1. a. The strong, soft, lustrous fibre produced by the larvæ of certain bombycine moths which feed upon mulberry leaves, etc., and by certain spiders; silken thread or filament.
Virginian silk (a plant-name): see Virginian.
c888[implied in silken a. 1]. a1000Boeth. Metr. viii. 24 Næs þa scealca nan þe..cuðe..heora wæda..sioloce siowian. c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 56 Seowa mid seolce fæste. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 790 Royl rollande fax to raw sylk lyke. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 33 Arbaces fond hym spynnynge reed selk at þe distaf. 1463–4[see raw a. 2 a]. c15111st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 35/1 They spynne lyke the wormes yat the sylke spynneth. 1535Coverdale Isaiah xix. 9 Soch as laboure vpon flax & sylcke. 1601Holland Pliny I. 124 The Seres, famous for the fine silk that their woods do yeeld. 1634Milton Comus 716 Spinning Worms, That in their green shops weave the smooth-hair'd silk. 1712Lond. Gaz. No. 5010/4 China Raw and Thrown Silk and Sleeve Silk. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 52 After some months feeding, they lay, upon every leaf, small bundles, or cones of silk. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 234 The matter of the silk is liquid in the body of the worm, but it hardens in the air. Ibid. 235 The silk of a cocoon weighs two and a half grains. 1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlewk. 459/1 That part of ravelled silk thrown on one side in the filature of the cocoons.
transf.1608Topsell Serpents 694 They bowel them, and fill their bodies with sugar, and silk of wooll.
b. In the phr. of silk, denoting the substance of which a garment, etc., is composed; freq. passing into sense 2.
c1205Lay. 22764 Claðes soften al of white seolke. c1275Ibid. 4549 Of solke was þat seil-cloþ. c1340Nominale (Skeat) 551 Bauderik of sylke. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 84 Þer houeþ an Hundret In Houues of selk. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xix. 87 Wele arraid with clathez of gold and of silke. 1451J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert xxxviii. 117 Þe seide relikes were wounde..in a cloth of silk precious I-now. 1535Coverdale 1 Sam. ii. 19 His mother also made him a litle cote of sylke. 1576Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 60 Our sutes of Silke. 1611Shakes. Cymb. ii. iv. 69 Her Bed⁓chamber..was hang'd With Tapistry of Silke. 1640in Entick London (1766) II. 169 Boradoes of silk. 1842Tennyson Sir Launcelot & Q. Guinevere 24 A gown of grass-green silk she wore.
c. In comparisons, esp. soft as silk.
a1310in Wright Lyric P. ix. 36 Body ant brest wel mad al,..Eyther side soft ase sylk. c1386Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 605 Theigh thou..straw her cage faire and soft as silk. c1400Destr. Troy 3993 Cassandra..was a Clene Maydon, Semely of a Sise, as the silke white. c140026 Pol. Poems 126 My bloode ys nessher than ys sylke. 1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 96 Soft and soupill as the silk. a1732Gay New Song of New Similies v, Plump as a Partridge was I known, And Soft as Silk my Skin.
d. A silken thread.
1684R. Waller Nat. Exper. 67 We took..the bladder out of another Fish, and tyed the two Ends with a Silk. 1891Penny Postage Jubilee iv. 69 Three red and two blue silk threads run parallel across the Mulready cover, the two ‘silks’ appearing under the design.
e. Silk sold in the form of thread or twist for sewing; freq. with defining word, as silk embroidery, sewing silk, etc.
1480–1826 Sewing silk [see sewing vbl. n.1 4]. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. III. iii. 506/1 Veil, vest, and shawl embroidering silk. 1920A. K. Arthur Embroidery Bk. ii. 10 Silks of different makes, embroidery or knitting, filosel,..and..‘Tyrian’, are all good for various purposes. 1951L. Town Bookbinding by Hand xiv. 175 This is necessary to prevent fraying of the sewing silk as it passes round the headband. 1973C. Gavin Snow Mountain xxiii. 392 The drawn-thread work they were doing, on coarse linen with silks brought from their home.
f. artificial silk [cf. F. soie artificielle (de Chardonnet 1884, in French Pat. 165,349)] = rayon1 3. Also shortened to art silk (also artsilk).
1885Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry 29 Jan. 34 Mr. J. B. Payne exhibited..some samples of ‘artificial silk’, a new filament produced by pressure through a die, from pyroxylin, the invention of Mr. J. W. Swan. 1922Daily Mail 2 Dec. 1 (Advt.), Three charming designs in silcot, cotton, satin and art silk stockinette. 1924[see rayon1 3 a]. 1928Lancet 24 Mar. 631/2 Mr. Kelly asked the Home Secretary whether the Home Office had received any reports as to the conditions of health of workpeople employed in artificial silk factories. 1928Daily Mail 3 Aug. 18/2 Snias and British Enkas were firmer among Artsilks. 1935Economist 2 Nov. 854/1 Swedish exports to Italy consist to a large extent of chemical pulp..most of it rayon cellulose for artificial silk. 1944A. L. Bowley Stud. Nat. Income 1924–1938 170 The excise on Artificial Silk has been charged since July 1925. 1957H. Croome Forgotten Place 15 A brilliant orange artsilk coverlet on a double bed..artsilk curtains of a different shade framing the windows.
2. a. The cloth or textile fabric woven or made from this.
c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 174 Ᵹyf man mæte ðæt he seoluc oððe godweb hæbbe. c1275On Serving Christ 23 in O.E. Misc. 91 For seolk, ne for cendal, ne for deore wedes. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 392 With clene linnene cloth..And noþer in pal ne in seolke. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 19 And ȝe, loueli Ladies.., Þat habbeþ selk, and sendel souweþ..Chesybles for Chapeleyns. a1400–50Alexander 2401 Þat Iowell..was full sekirly & soft all in silke falden. 1534More Comf. agst. Trib. iii. Wks. 1220/1 It maketh vs..gooe much more gay and glorious in sight, garnyshed in sylke. 1579W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love 75 They..affirmed, it was vnlawfull to weare silke. 1650Howell Lett. III. 33 Cloth is the more substantiall..; But silk is more smooth and slik. 1654tr. Martini's Conq. China 35 Their Boots, which they make either of Silk, or of Horse⁓skin. 1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4472/4 At the Marine Coffee⁓house..will be expos'd to Sale..92 Chests China Silk,..3 Bales of super-fine Piedmont Silk. 1760Goldsm. Cit. W. lxxvii, I was this morning to buy silk for a night⁓cap. 1834McCulloch Dict. Commerce (ed. 2) 1029 Silk had..been used by persons of distinction two centuries previously. 1908Betw. Trent & Ancholme 276 This lady wore grey silk.
fig.c1315Shoreham i. 33 Ne wynd þou naut þy senne ine silke. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 90 The beauty of that [goat] which Nature clothes with silk on the rocks of Angora. 1843Lytton Last Bar. i. iii, He who has little silver in his pouch must have the more silk on his tongue.
b. Used allusively to indicate the rank of a King's (or Queen's) Counsel, marked by the right to wear a silk gown, esp. in the phrases to receive silk, obtain silk, or take silk; also (rare), to have silk. Collectively, denoting the persons wearing such gowns. (Cf. 3 d.)
1810Bentham Art of Packing (1821) 49 Our solicitor has heard with due attention the speeches delivered from learned silk. 1866A. J. Munby Diary 2 Nov. (1972) 229 Dined in Hall..the talk was of who is to have silk presently and make way for us rising juniors. 1875Trollope Prime Minister (1876) I. iii. 36 He had..worked in a stuff gown till he was nearly sixty... He would take his silk as an honour for his declining years. 1882Daily News 25 May 2/5 He received silk in 1868. 1882Society 4 Nov. 20/1 Ere long he ‘spoiled silk’ (as the saying is), and was made a Serjeant. 1897Standard 16 Oct. 3/4 [He] soon obtained great distinction.., which increased on his taking silk. 1925W. S. Maugham Painted Veil vii. 25 He was still a junior and many younger men than he had already taken silk. 1979G. Wagner Barnardo viii. 130 Thesiger..had become a QC... He had two juniors..who later took silk.
c. As the material of a jockey's jacket. Esp. in phr. to sport silk, don silk, or wear silk: to ride (in a race).
1884H. Smart From Post to Finish I. xv. 243 Next week Gerald would ‘don silk’..and be embarked on the career she had marked out... Had she done right?.. And yet, with his aptitude for riding..what better path..was open to him? 1891Daily News 10 Dec. 2/5 A capital start was made with the Snow Steeplechase for which seven sported silk. 1898A. E. T. Watson Turf x. 189 A gentleman, when this misfortune happens to him..can cease to wear silk, or at any rate need not ride over hurdles or fences.
d. A parachute; chiefly in phr. to take to or hit the silk, to bale out of an aircraft by parachute. U.S. Air Force slang.
1933Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 828 The American pilot..remarked that if he had engine trouble over England he would ‘take to the silk’, in other words abandon his machine and come down by parachute. 1943R. Whelan Flying Tigers 100 After gaining altitude Mott's plane burst into flames and he ‘hit the silk’. 1956N. Marsh Off with his Head (1957) viii. 177 Over Germany..we got clobbered and I hit the silk.
3. a. With a and pl. A particular make of silk cloth or fabric.
1538Starkey England i. iii. 94 Fyne clothys, says and sylkys. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 672 Sondry riche merchaundises, as cloth of Gold, Siluer, Veluet, Satten, and other silkes. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 399 Our silkes haue the name of this Region, where it is made of a most fine wooll. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. x. 238 Chinese silks coming almost directly to Acapulco. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, She passed whole days in embroidering silks. 1859Tennyson Geraint & Enid 693 One among his gentlewomen Display'd a splendid silk of foreign loom. 1897Watts-Dunton Aylwin viii. ii, An eccentric dress of Japanese silks.
b. pl. Garments made of silk; silk stockings; spec. a jockey's cap and jacket carrying the horse-owner's colours. Cf. sense 2 c above.
1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 68 My self suld be full semlie with silkis arrayit. 1602How to Choose a Good Wife from a Bad iv. iii, A huffing wench..whose ruffling silks Make with their motion music unto love. 1691–[see rustle v. 2 b]. a1704T. Brown Sat. French King Wks. 1730 I. 60 My spouse, alas! must flaunt in silks no more. 1784Cowper Task vi. 941 As she sweeps him with her whistling silks. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxi, A very dusty skeleton in a blue coat, black knee-shorts, and silks. 1946Sun (Baltimore) 31 May 15/1 Lovely Imp, carrying the Maryland silks of R. Bruce Livie's..Stable, won on a disqualification. 1955Radio Times 22 Apr. 9/3 The jockeys..in gaudy silks. 1977New Yorker 4 July 71/1 Last Thursday, in his first appearance in silks since the accident, he won with his first mount..by a length and a quarter.
c. A lady's silk dress.
1793F. Burney Let. 4 Feb. (1972) II. 12 My love & thanks to my dear Sarah; though she ought to send my black silk. 1819M. Edgeworth Let. ? 10 Mar. (1971) 181 Fanny wore her green silk and it looked beautiful. 1861Trollope Tales of all Countries 211 The black silk was not long,..nor wide in its skirts. 1897Sarah Grand Beth Bk. xxxix, She had never worn her white silk trimmed with myrtle.
d. A King's (or Queen's) Counsel; a ‘silk gown’. (Cf. 2 b.)
1884St. James's Gaz. 8 Feb. 5/1 The retainer of some eighteen ‘silks’ and at least as many junior counsel. 1889Gretton Memory's Harkback 120 Jervis, afterwards Justice of Chester, was the senior silk.
e. A silk hat.
1906Joyce Let. 12 Aug. (1966) II. 148, I am curious to know how he looked in a tall silk. 1930D. H. Lawrence Love among Haystacks 87, I assured her her hat was adorable, and, much to my relief, I got rid of my silk and into a dressing gown.
4. a. orig. and chiefly U.S. The silk-like filiform styles of the female flower of unripe maize. Phr. in silk, at that stage when the silk is prominent.
[c1662in New England Q. (1937) X. 126 There groweth within the Huske upon the Corne a matter like small threads which appeare out of the top of the Eare like a tuft of haire or Silke.] 1770G. Washington Diary 25 Aug. (1925) I. 395 Many Stalks were putting out entire new Shoots with young and tender Silk. 1774P. V. Fithian Jrnl. 19 July (1900) 212 The Corn is beginning pretty generally to tassel, & I saw one hill in Silk, and in Blossom. a1817T. Dwight Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821) II. 403 Their favourite food is clover and maize. Of the latter they devour the part which is called the silk, the immediate means of fecundating the ear. 1847D. Drake Pioneer Life Kentucky (1870) 52 By the month of August the corn is in silk. 1894Century Mag. Apr. 850 The pistillate flower of the maize..was appropriately called the ‘silk’. 1914J. Burtt-Davy Maize v. 233 In some cases, and in the same breed, the silks appear before the tassels. 1950New Biol. VIII. 46 Pollen from each plant is then poured on to the silks of the same plant. 1980Sci. Amer. Jan. 101 Primitive corn and teosinte, with their tiny ears, have small pollen grains that cannot fertilize the kernels of large modern ears with their long silks.
b. A silky lustre in some rubies and sapphires, due to microscopic crystals, and considered a defect.
1886Jrnl. Franklin Inst. CXXII. 380 In many genuine rubies we find a silky structure (called silk by jewellers). 1903W. R. Cattelle Precious Stones 47 Rubies generally contain clusters of light or dark-colored spots... White, glistening streaks in the grain of the stone, called silk, are of frequent occurrence... If silk shows plainly when the stone is faced up, it is one of the most serious defects. 1929M. Weinstein Precious & Semi-Precious Stones i. 6 The peculiar optical effect shown by many natural rubies and sapphires, known as ‘silk’, is never seen in synthetic stones. 1976B. W. Anderson Gemstones for Everyman xii. 152 The Burma rubies..usually..show small patches of ‘silk’ consisting of fine needles of rutile intersecting at 60°. These have a silky appearance by reflected light.
5. ellipt.
a. A silk snapper. (See sense 10 and cf. silt n. 3 and 4.)
a1818M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. Ind. (1834) 104 Of the Sea Fish which I have hitherto met with, the Deep-water Silk appears to me the best.
b. A silk-covered cylinder in a flour-dressing machine.
1879Encycl. Brit. IX. 345/1 These [cylinders] are mounted horizontally on a spindle for revolving, and externally they are covered with silk of different degrees of fineness, whence they are called ‘silks’ or silk dressers.
II. attrib. and Comb.
6. Attrib., passing into adj.
a. Made of silk or silken material; silken.
a1350Will. Palerne 4430 Þat riche ring..with a red silk þrede þe quen bond..a-boute þe wolwes necke. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 276 Schal no seriaunt for þat seruise were a selk houue. 1546–7Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 252 My best silke hat. 1551in Strype Mem. Ref. (1721) III. 116 No man under the degree of a gentleman to wear any silk points. 1632Lithgow Trav. vi. 272 [They] pay no Custome..for any silke ware. a1653Gouge Comm. Heb. ix. 1 The roomes within it were divided by Silk curtains. 1730A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 350 Pure Silk-Stuff was valued at the like Weight of Gold. 1741Corr. betw. C'tess Hartford & C'tess Pomfret (1805) III. 216 With a black silk snail-string about their necks. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 395 The silk-yarn employed by the weavers. 1866Cornhill Mag. May 558 Cecilia sits down to the jangling instrument, with the worn silk flutings. 1893‘J. O. Hobbes’ Study in Temptations 138 She had also designed a black silk dolman for her Aunt Caroline.
Prov. (also used allusively).a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v. Luggs, Ye can ne make a Silk-Purse of a Sowe's Luggs, a Scotch Proverb. 1764Foote Mayor of G. i. Wks. 1799 I. 174 Who can make a silk purse of a sow's ear? 1812Scott 16 July in Lockhart (1869) III. xxiv. 401, I am labouring here to contradict an old proverb, and make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. 1907E. Gosse Father & Son ix. 239 ‘Even the Lord can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear,’ said Miss Marks. 1929D. H. Lawrence Pansies 129 Women..want to change the man himself And turn the poor silk glove into a lusty sow's ear. 1932R. Aldington Soft Answers 47 Too late Julia realised that the best and most self-sacrificing of wives cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, an Arnold Bennett out of an Oswald. 1959M. Bradbury Eating People is Wrong ii. 55 For the mass of men there is not too much to be said or done; you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 339/2 She and her colleagues in the teaching profession are expected to turn children like that into silk purses, able to count, to spell, to read, to write, to understand, and so on.
Comb.1648Hexham ii, Een Zijde-laecken-verkooper, a Silke-cloath-seller. 1833Penny Cycl. I. 60/2 Acacia Julibrissin, silk-tassel acacia. 1846Lindley Veg. Kingd. 31 Silk button galls. 1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 287 Products of the silk-ribbon loom were exhibited. 1895Baily's Mag. May 336/2 A regular silk jacket affair, with ‘open’ races, and an ‘open’ ditch.
b. With names of special fabrics, as silk camlet, silk canvas, silk chiffon, silk damask, silk drugget, silk gauze, silk jersey, silk velvet, etc.
1530Palsgr. 270/1 Sylke chamlet, camelot de soye. 1548in Strype Mem. Ref. (1721) II. 208 A counterpoint of silk⁓say. 1611Cotgr., Burat, silke-rash; or any kind of stuffe thats halfe silke, and halfe worsted. a1618Sylvester Monodia Wks. (Grosart) II. 330/1 Embroidered gowns Of grass-green silk-shag. 1722De Foe Col. Jack xix, Fine English broad-cloths, silk, silk-druggets. 1779Phil. Trans. LXIX. 673, I have also excited a very considerable electrical force on strong silk velvet. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Silk-plush, a material used for articles of ladies' dress; also very extensively for covering the stuff bodies of men's hats. 1880L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) xi. 156 It was silk velvet and ten shillings a yard. 1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlewk. 449/2 Silk Canvas or Berlin..is of a very even and delicate make. Ibid., Silk Damask is now superseded as a dress material. 1925Eaton's News Weekly 26 Sept. 17 Very new, the Gossard Dancelette girdle of silk jersey. 1965Which? Mar. 95/1 Silk chiffon, a light, open mesh fabric, soft and smooth. For scarves, lingerie, evening dresses, millinery. 1965T. R. Tregear Geogr. China ii. 81 It was not the finely woven Chinese brocades and damasks that were wanted in Rome, for when they arrived they were unravelled and re-woven into lighter, flimsier silk gauzes.
Comb.1594Canterbury Marriage Licences (MS.), Jacobus Denewe.., Canterbury, silkrashweaver. 1597Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) II. 229 My silke rash gowne. 1601Holland Pliny I. 410 The silk-russet grape Ravuscula, the asse-hued grape Asinisca, please not the eie. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 457 This thick liquid is passed..through fine hair and silk lawn sieves. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Silk-gauze manufacturer, a gauze-weaver. 1897Sears, Roebuck Catal. 231/1 Ladies' black pure silk jersey mitts. 1966P. O'Donnell Sabre-Tooth vi. 91 Ilse..put on a white silk-velvet dressing gown. 1976Times 9 Mar. 9 (Advt.), Hand made silk chiffon blouse. 1980D. Creed Scarab xviii. 173 Her camel-coloured silk-jersey dress.
c. Of persons: Clad in silk. rare.
1603Dekker & Chettle Grissil (Shaks. Soc.) 19 Those changeable silk gallants, who..read no books but a looking-glass. 1624Purchas Verses in Capt. Smith's Virginia, Fetters are forged for Silke-sotts, Milk-sops.
d. Resembling silk in lustre; silky.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. v. 46 'Tis not..your blacke silke haire..That can entame my spirits. 1879G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 84 The vault and scope and schooling..In silk-ash kept from cooling. 1888in Ibid. 198 Silk-beech, scrolled ash.
7. Attrib.
a. With terms referring to the structure, operations, or produce of the silkworms, as silk-bag, † silk-bottom, silk-cavity, silk-cod, silk-gland, etc.
1817Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxvii. (1818) II. 467 A super⁓abundance of the gum which fills its *silk-bags.
1622Bonoeil Art of Making Silke 72 [They] are bigger bodied, and make larger *silke-bottomes.
1881Tyndall Floating Matter of Air 11 They..fill the *silk cavities.
1620Observ. Silkwormes D j, *Silke coddes, two shillings sixe⁓pence the pound.
1870Rolleston Anim. Life 81 The disappearance of the *silk-glands during the pupa stage.
1881Tyndall Floating Matter of Air 14 The *silk organ itself was charged with corpuscles.
1759Phil. Trans. LI. 54 This new species of *silk-pod.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. xl. 112 There are a pair of *silk reservoirs (sericteria).
Ibid. xli. 122 In general, the outlet of the *silk-secretors is at the mouth.
1622Bonoeil Art of Making Silke 70 They make of one ounce of Spanish *silke-seede, eight, nine and tenne pound of silke.
1836–9Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 973/2 In the larva they [the salivary glands] constitute the *silk vessels.
b. With terms relating to the production, manufacture, or commercial handling of silk, as silk-commodity, silk country, silk culture, silk district, etc.
1622Bonoeil Art of Making Silke 71 Their clymate is nothing so proper for this *silke-commodity as Virginia is.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Silks, Ardebil, another City of Persia, not far distant from these *Silk Countries.
1858Homans' Cycl. Commerce 1721/2 The *silk culture was introduced into Louisiana in 1718.
1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 262 Throughout the *silk district of France.
1777Phil. Trans. LXVII. 462 The smaller end of that part of a *silk engine called a star. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 269 Bobbin Mechanism of the Silk Engine.
Ibid. 474 The *silk factories throughout the kingdom make little or no demand on muscular effort.
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 487/1 The *silk-loom has been much improved lately. 1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 300 A company was formed..and some silk-looms were imported.
1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 276 The portion of the *silk-machinery which contains the swifts.
1703Sc. Acts, Anne (1824) XI. 50/1 The managers of the woollen and *silk manufactories.
1701in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. VII. 98 Then we saw their *Silk Manufacture. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 399 The silk manufacture now may be compared with what the cotton manufacture was about thirty years ago.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Mill, There are also *Silk-Mills, for spinning, throwing, and twisting Silks. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 266 When these mechanicians took the silk-mill in hand.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 393 In Piedmont..the manufacture is carried on by aid of the *silk reel.
1703Lond. Gaz. No. 3918/4 Enquire..of Mr. Kimpson at the Castle, a *Silk-shop.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v., The *Silk Trade is the Principal in China. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 246 The silk trade of Great Britain..may be valued at 7,000,000 l. sterling.
8. Objective:
a. With agent-nouns, as silk-breeder, silk-carder, silk-doubler, silk-dresser, silk-maker, silk manufacturer, silk-mercer, etc.
1865Pall Mall G. 26 June 10 The *silk-breeders of France are..in a position of the greatest distress.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v., Carding, which was perform'd by the common *Silk-Carders.
1662Act 14 Chas. II c. 15 §6 Every such Silk-winder and *Doubler. 1723Lond. Gaz. No. 6187/4 Ann Brown, late of Wapping Stepney, Silk-Doubler.
1771Burrow's Rep. III. 1346 In their said Trade and Business of *Silk-Dressers. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Silk-dresser, a stiffener and smoother of silk.
1842in Proc. Vermont Hist. Soc. (1940) VIII. 156 Called on Mr. Dexter the *silk grower. 1858Homans' Cycl. Commerce 1719/2 This filament the silk growers..unwind by various ingenious means.
1636Davenant Wits Wks. (1673) 212 'Twill make 'em sing, like *Silk-Knitters of Cocklane.
1712Blackmore Creation ii. 66 They..ripen Food For the *Silk-Labourers of the Mulberry Wood.
14..Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 692 Hec sereatrix, a *sylkmaker.
1834–6Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 717/2 The various plans which..our *silk manufacturers have introduced into their mills.
1779Johnson L.P., Gay, [Gay] was sent to London..and placed apprentice with a *silk-mercer.
1823Scott Quentin D. vi, The house of..Maître Pierre, the great *silk⁓merchant.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Silk printer, a stamper of silk.
1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. vi. 186 The *silk-reelers of Italy transfer the silk to a..reel, as they draw it from the cocoons.
1720Strype Stow's Surv. II. 233/2 There were several..*Silk-Twisters, Foreigners,..living [c 1560] in St. Marten's Liberty. 1800Asiatic Ann. Reg. 54/2 The Pundraca and Pattasutracára, or feeder of silk⁓worms and silk-twisters, deserve notice.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Silk-waterer, one who clouds, waves, or waters silk, by passing two pieces..between metallic rollers.
b. With vbl. ns. and ppl. adjs., as silk-bearing, silk-emitting, silk-growing, silk-reeling, etc.
Also in names of machines, as silk-doubling, -sizing, -softening, -sorting machine: see Knight Dict. Mech. (1875) and Suppl. (1884) s.v.
1872Duncan tr. Figuier's Insect World iv. 221 The double *silk-bearing gland.
1729Savage Wanderer v. 217 The leaf the *silk-emitting reptile feeds.
1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 60/2 The ailanthus silkworm..now spread through many *silk-growing regions.
1579Sc. Acts, Jas. VI (1814) III. 152/2 The offer and contracting anent the art of *silk-making.
1858Homans' Cycl. Commerce 1719/2 These being the chief *silk-producing countries. 1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 314 The Bombycidæ, or spinners, including the silk-producing moths.
1888Harper's Mag. June 47 *Silk reeling is one of the industries [of Kansas].
1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. vi. 173 A subdivision is sometimes made between a ‘silk-throwing mill’ and a ‘*silk-spinning mill’; the former being for the manufacture from..perfect raw silk, and the latter from..inferior silk.
1677Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 354 Yesterday a Committee was appointed to consider how to encourage the *Silk-weaving in England. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 264 There has been a constant depreciation of the wages of silk weaving in France, from the year 1810.
1611Florio, Indouanadura, a *silke-winding. 1841Browning Pippa Passes Introd. 71 The next twelve-month's toil At wearisome silk-winding, coil on coil!
9. Instrumental, etc., as silk-broidered, silk-covered, silk-hatted, silk-hosed, etc.
1753West Odes Pindar, etc. I. 234 And to thy Tomb, as Off'rings, shall be brought *Silk-broider'd Mantles.
1849Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 367 They are all coated with coils of *silk-covered wire.
1903W. Le Queux Seven Secrets (ed. 2) xxii. 219 The *silk-hatted, frock-coated existence of the fashionable physician. 1976L. St. Clair Fortune in Death iii. 27 A bank messenger, very properly silk-hatted and frock-coated.
1820Scott Monast. xxvii, No *silk-hosed reveller of the presence-chamber.
1947Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) ii. 35 And mother wrote Swift and sure in the *silk-hung saloon Her large round letters.
1876‘Ouida’ Winter City xii. 369 Postillions, *silk-jacketted.., and with ribboned straw hats.
1901Westm. Gaz. 29 Nov. 7/2 A romantic American,..after living as a hermit for fifteen years in consequence of an unhappy love affair, has been buried in a *silk-lined grave. 1979Country Life 1 Feb. 309/1 (Advt.), Silk-lined mohair coats.
1820Keats Lamia ii. 220 Each..*silk-pillow'd at his ease.
1857G. W. Thornbury Songs Cavaliers & Roundheads 306 The *silk-robed men with peacock plumes.
1918G. Frankau One of Them in Poet. Wks. (1923) II. xix. 123 *Silk-socked; bright monocled; gallant. 1922Joyce Ulysses 517 Bella..lifts..a plump buskined hoof and a full pastern, silk-socked.
1884Browning Ferishtah (1885) 8 Inside—gold-roofed *silk-walled silence round about!
1639G. Daniel Vervic 679 Noe *silke-wrapt wantons here..Shall graspe Luxurious Edward.
10. Special combs.: silk-coal, a variety of coal found in Shropshire; silk embroidery, embroidery worked with silk threads; silk-glue, sericin; silk gown = sense 3 d; silk green, a colour-substance used in paper making; silk-gut, the gut in the silkworm from which the silk is produced; silk hat, a cylindrical hat having a light stiff body covered with silk plush or shag; † silk-maid, a maid employed to make silk articles of dress; silk paper, a kind of tissue-paper; silk road, route (freq. with initial capitals), a trade route from China through India to the West, used in ancient times by traders in silk; silk-shag (see quot.); silk snapper, a Bermudan fish (see quot. and sense 5 a, and cf. silt-snapper); † silk snatcher (see quot.); silk waste, the fibres which remain after the reeling of silk yarn, or those obtained from damaged cocoons; † silk wool, a mixed yarn made of wool and either silk or staple fibre (obs.).
1803J. Plymley Agric. Shropsh. 55 Coal, called the *silk-coal.
1837Penny Cycl. VII. 77/1 A piece of *silk embroidery. 1889J. J. Rein Industries of Japan iii. iv. 389 Oftentimes this silk embroidery is connected very skilfully with the painting or printing of the material. 1982E. North Ancient Enemies iii. 32 I've never yet told her about the private [American] college..where you can major in any subject... I met a girl who'd been there majoring in something like silk embroidery.
1886tr. Benedikt's Chem. Coal-tar Colours 39 Both fibroine and sericine (*silk-glue) consist of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen.
1836–7Dickens Sk. Boz, Tales v, ‘I presume you have studied for the bar?’..‘No..’. ‘But you have been much among the *silk gowns?’
1880J. Dunbar Pract. Papermaker 58 *Silk green is a chemically pure colouring matter, producing beautiful shades of green.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1115 The rest of the entrails resembles boiled spinage, and therefore can occasion no mistake as to the *silk-gut.
1834–6Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 760/2 The *silk hat, with a body of felt and a nap of silk plush. 1893G. Hill Hist. Eng. Dress II. 253 The tall silk hat, introduced from France about 1840.
1474Paston Lett. III. 118 My *sylkemayde whyche makyth perte off suche as she shall weer.
1796Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) IV. 345 Thin as *silk paper. 1841Penny Cycl. XX. 375 There were formerly manufactures of silk-paper in this town [Samarcand].
1931J. W. Gregory Story of Road i. iii. 43 The northern *silk road in Asia crossed Persia and Kashgar to the Tarim Basin in Chinese Turkestan. 1936P. Fleming News from Tartary i. iv. 29 The Silk Road takes..you through Sinkiang to Kashgar and the Himalayan passes by one of two alternative routes. 1982Times 25 Feb. 10/5 A community of some 200 Chinese-Jewish descendants of Silk Road traders in the ancient capital of Kaifeng, who no longer identify with Judaism.
1913J. Buchan Divus Johnson in Runagates Club (1928) vi. 152 Russian geographers were interesting themselves in the line of the old *silk route to Cathay. 1949D. Carruthers Beyond Caspian iv. 95 The Silk Route was not a disjointed affair, built up in sections, linking likely markets. 1981Daily Tel. 30 Mar. 18/5 Tartar hats..recall the Silk Route of Marco Polo.
1883Day Fishes Gt. Brit. II. 210 Young herring in Northumberland..are likewise termed *silk-shag.
1876Goode Fishes of Bermudas 55 The Schoolmaster Snapper and *Silk Snapper of the fishermen probably belong to this genus [Lutjanus aya, family Pristipomatidæ]. 1884Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. VII. (1885) 454 Some young ‘Silk Snappers’ brought by Mr. Gilbert from Aspinwall.
1785Grose Dict. Vulgar T., *Silk snatchers, thieves who snatch hoods or bonnets from persons walking in the streets.
1842Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XX. 350/2 To introduce such alterations in the spinning of *silk waste as will supersede the cutting, carding, and scutching processes... The art of silk waste spinning..is still in its infancy. 1965A. Brearley Woollen Industry v. 27 Silk wastes are used in woollen blends for their own distinctive merits.
1859L. Oliphant Narr. Earl of Elgin's Mission China & Japan (1860) II. 255 The Japanese wear in winter garments thickly padded either with cotton or *silk wool. 1908Practitioner Nov. 760 Silcool is a form of vegetable silk⁓wool. 1928F. M. Rowe tr. Reinthaler's Artificial Silk vii. 128 Staple fibre yarn..cannot belie its cellulose nature; it lacks..the tenacity of wool. This can be remedied..by spinning staple fibre in admixture with wool or recovered wool... Such mixed yarns (carded or combed) termed ‘silk-wool’,..are still used for needlework and machine knitting.
b. Bot. In the names of trees, shrubs, or plants, as silk-bark, a small evergreen tree, Maytenus acuminata, belonging to the family Celastraceæ and native to southern Africa; silk-maudlin, -oak, (see quots.); silk-tassel (bush, tree) = garrya; silk-tree (see quots.); silk wood, (a) (see quot.1775); (b) = Calabur tree; (c) = Queensland maple s.v. Queensland; silk wort (see quot.).
1894T. R. Sim Flora of Kaffraria 28 (heading) *Silkbark. 1907― Forests & Forest Flora Cape of Good Hope xiv. 184 Silk-bark... A small branched unarmed tree. 1912Cape Times 12 Oct. 9/8 In the gorge beneath the fall an indigenous thicket, yellow-wood, Hottentot cherry, silk-bark, has been allowed to remain. 1972Palmer & Pitman Trees S. Afr. II. 1285 The silkbark or sybas has a wide distribution, occurring from eastern tropical Africa to the Cape.
1712Phil. Trans. XXVII. 419 Stoll's Cape *Silk-Maudlin [is]..an ever-green Shrub, with deep dented Leaves.
1866Treas. Bot. 551/2 Lofty trees..with a girth of eight feet, as in Grevillea robusta, the *Silk Oak of the colonists. [Ibid. 798/2 Silky, or Silkbark Oak.]
1897M. E. Parsons Wild Flowers of California 370 (heading) *Silk-tassel tree. Quinine-bush. 1949J. T. Howell Marin Flora 211 The graceful catkins of the staminate plants make the silk tassel bush one of the most beautiful shrubs in the chaparral. 1976Hortus Third (L. H. Bailey Hortorium) 495/2 Garrya Dougl[as]. Silk-tassel, silk-tassel bush... The garryas are ornamentals flowering in late winter and early spring.
1852Johnson Cottage Gard. Dict. 5/1 Acacia julibrissia (*silk-tree). 1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 201 The silk tree (Albizzia julibrissin) is a low-headed spreading-tree, possessed of the most graceful foliage. 1880Bessey Botany 547 Some East and West Indian trees of the genus Bombax..are known as Silk Trees.
1775G. White Selborne lxviii, Stalks of the polytrichum commune, or great golden maiden-hair, which they [sc. foresters] call *silk-wood. 1888Silk wood: used in def. of Calabur tree. 1891 Cent. Dict., Silkwood, a shrub, Muntingia Calabura. 1909F. M. Bailey Comprehensive Catal. Queensland Plants 91 Flindersia..Brayleyana..Wood has been cut under the name of ‘Silkwood’. 1948A. L. Howard Man. Timbers World (ed. 3) 354 Maple silk⁓wood is moderately elastic.
1897Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Dec. 617 One [water-weed] known locally as network or *silkwort, on account of its thread-like stems.
c. Ent. In the names of various silk-producing insects: † silk-fly, the silkworm moth; silk insect, moth (see quots.); silk-spider, one or other of various species of silk-spinning spiders; silk-spinner, a spider or a silk-moth.
1599T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 26 *Silke-flies I meane, which not on breast alone But all throughout..Besides pure white, else colour carry none.
1798Cruttwell Univ. Gazetteer (1808) s.v. China, The *silk insects, which are different from silk-worms, resemble caterpillars.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxx. 220 Attacus Paphia, a giant *silk-moth. 1871Darwin Desc. Man ii. x. (1890) 278 The male and female cocoons of the silk-moth (Bombyx mori).
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Silk, The *Silk-Spider make[s] a Silk, every whit as beautiful..as the Silk-worm. 1866Athenæum No. 2019. 26/1 A species of silk-spider.
1868C. M. Yonge Chaplet of Pearls II. xlii. 246 A colony of *silk-spinners, attracted by the mulberry-leaves of the old abbey garden. 1869‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. xxxiii. 365 This old dried-up reservoir is occupied by a few ghostly silk-spinners now. 1896R. Lydekker Royal Nat. Hist. VI. iii. 95 (heading) The silk-spinners,—Family Bombycidæ.
d. Ornith. In the names of birds or fowls: silk-bunting U.S., one or other of the buntings of the genus Spiza, esp. S. americana; silk cock, a species of domestic fowl, esp. Phasianus gallus or Gallus lanatus, native to eastern Asia; silk fowl, a silk-cock or -hen; (see also quot. 1835–6); silk-hen, the female of the silk-cock; † silk stare = next; silk starling, a species of starling (Sturnus sericeus), native to China.
1884Coues N. Amer. Birds 387 Spiza, *Silk Buntings.
1783Latham Gen. Synop. Birds II. ii. 708 *Silk Cock, Phasianus gallus. 1829Griffith tr. Cuvier VIII. 222 The Silk Cock..is of a pure white.
1835–6Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 270/1 The *Silk or Negro-fowl of the Cape de Verd Islands (Gallus Morio, Temminck). 1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 645/2 The silk fowl best known is that in which the plumage is perfectly white.
1868Darwin Variation Anim. & Pl. xiv, I reared a large number of mongrels from a *silk-hen by a Spanish cock. 1884St. James's Gaz. 27 Nov. 5/2 In Germany the silk hen is frequently remarkable for the length of her spurs.
1783Latham Gen. Synop. Birds II. i. 10 *Silk Stare. Size of a Starling... The plumage in general glossy and silky.
1817Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. X. ii. 497 *Silk starling.
▪ II. silk, v. U.S.
[f. the n.]
a. trans. To remove the silk from (maize).
1847D. Drake Pioneer Life Kentucky (1870) 52 My first business in the morning was to pull, and husk and silk enough [corn] for breakfast. 1892Hist. Rev. Industr. & Commercial Growth York County (Pa., U.S.) 59 [They] make a specialty of..‘silkers’ for silking corn. 1972E. Wigginton Foxfire Bk. 177 Shuck and silk corn that is in roasting ear.
b. intr. Of maize: to produce the silk.
1878J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xv. 245 The summers are short and the nights cool. Corn will not silk. 1939Sun (Baltimore) 21 July 13/4 The corn in the county is later..as the farmers have planted it so it will silk after August 10 when the danger from beetles is over. 1948Clarke County Democrat (Grove Hill, Alabama) 3 June 1/3 This worm usually waits until corn bunches for tasseling or begins to silk before they attack.
▪ III. silk
var. swilk, obs. form of such. |