silkn.adj.

Brit.

/sɪlk/, U.S.

/sɪlk/

Forms: α. Old English sioloc, seoloc, seoluc, seolc, Middle English seolk ( solk), Middle English seolke; Middle English selc, Middle English selk(e. β. Middle English silc, Middle English– silk (1500s silck), Middle English–1600s silke; Middle English sylk(e, Middle English cylk(e, 1500s sylcke.

Etymology: Old English sioloc, seoloc, etc. (for earlier *siluc) masculine, varying in form and gender from Old Norse and Icelandic silki neuter (Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish silke); not found in the other Germanic languages, but represented also by Old Church Slavonic šelkŭ (Russian šëlk). The ultimate source is commonly supposed to be Latin sēricus or Greek σηρικός silken, < Latin Sēres, Greek Σῆρες, the Asian 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.

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.With defining word, usually indicating silk at some process or stage of manufacture, or some particular kind of silk: see hard silk at hard adj. 1h, raw silk n. at raw adj. and n.¹ Compounds 2, reeled silk n. at reeled adj. Compounds, soft silk at soft adj. 11b, spun adj. 1a, thrown adj. 1b; also Jap silk at Jap adj., schappe n., tussore n. 1, etc. waste silk: see waste silk n. at waste n. Compounds 2. Virginian silk (a plant-name): see Virginian n. and adj.¹

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > silk > [noun]

silkc888

the Seres' wool1587

c888 [implied in: Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. xv Seolocenra hrægla mid mistlicum bleowum hi ne gimdon. (at silken adj. 1)].

a1000 Boeth. Metr. viii. 24 Næs þa scealca nan þe..cuðe..heora wæda..sioloce siowian.

c1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 56 Seowa mid seolce fæste.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 33 Arbaces fond hym spynnynge reed selk at þe distaf.

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness l. 790 Royl rollande fax to raw sylk lyke.

1463–4 Rolls of Parl. V. 506/1 In rawe Silke allone unwrought.

?c1510 tr. Newe Landes & People founde by Kynge of Portyngale sig. E They spynne lyke the wormes y^t the sylke spynneth.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Isa. xix. B Soch as laboure vpon flax & sylcke.

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 124 The Seres, famous for the fine silk that their woods do yeeld.

1637 J. Milton Comus 25 Spinning worms, That in their green shops weave the smooth-hair'd silk.

1712 London Gaz. No. 5010/4 China Raw and Thrown Silk and Sleeve Silk.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VIII. 52 After some months feeding, they lay, upon every leaf, small bundles, or cones of silk.

1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 234 The matter of the silk is liquid in the body of the worm, but it hardens in the air.

1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 235 The silk of a cocoon weighs two and a half grains.

1851 Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. iii. 505/2 Illustrations of the production of waste silk from the eggs [sc. cocoons] of the silk-worm.

1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 459/1 That part of ravelled silk thrown on one side in the filature of the cocoons.

1887 Colonial & Indian Exhib., London 1886: Rep. Colonial Sections 352 Specimens of waste silk under the head of ‘Punjam’.

in extended use.1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 143 They bowell them, and fill theyr bodies with Sugar, and Silke of Wooll.

b. In the phrase of silk, denoting the substance of which a garment, etc., is composed; frequently passing into sense 2.

ΚΠ

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 11359 Claðes soften al of white seolke [c1300 Otho solke].

c1275 Laȝamon Brut 4549 Of solke was þat seil-cloþ.

c1340 Nominale (Skeat) 551 Bauderik of sylke.

1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. Prol. 84 Þer houeþ an Hundret In Houues of selk.

c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (Roxb.) xix. 87 Wele arraid with clathez of gold and of silke.

1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert xxxviii. 117 Þe seide relikes were wounde..in a cloth of silk precious I-now.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Sam. ii. 19 His mother also made him a litle cote of sylke.

1576 G. Gascoigne Steele Glas sig. D.ij Our sutes of Silke.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) ii. iv. 69 Her Bed-chamber..was hang'd With Tapistry of Silke .

1640 Tables Rates & Duties in J. Entick New Hist. London (1766) II. 169 Boradoes of silk.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Sir Launcelot & Queen Guinevere in Poems (new ed.) II. 207 A gown of grass-green silk she wore.

c. In comparisons, esp. soft as silk.

ΚΠ

a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 39 Body ant brest wel mad al,..eyþer side soft ase sylk.

c1386 G. Chaucer Squire's Tale 605 Theigh thou..straw her cage faire and soft as silk.

c1400 26 Pol. Poems 126 My bloode ys nessher than ys sylke.

a1513 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen in Poems (1998) I. 43 Soft and soupill as the silk.

c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 3993 Cassandra..was a Clene Maydon, Semely of a Sise, as the silke white.

a1732 J. Gay New Song Similes in Poet. Wks. (1784) II. 115 Plump as a Partridge was I known, And Soft as Silk my Skin.

d. A silken thread.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [noun] > silk

silk1684

1684 R. Waller tr. Ess. Nat. Exper. Acad. del Cimento 67 We took..the bladder out of another Fish, and tyed the two Ends with a Silk.

1891 Penny 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; frequently with defining word, as embroidery silk, sewing silk, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [noun] > silk > for sewing or embroidery

sewing silk1480

silks?a1513

buttonhole twist1840

sewings1844

embroidery silk1851

machine twist1863

tailor's twist1873

horsetail1880

rope1880

twist1890

rope embroidery silk1895

1480 Wardrobe Accts. Edward IV in N. H. Nicolas Privy Purse Expenses Elizabeth of York (1830) 136 Sowing sylk, j lb. ij unces and a quarter.

1621 in A. J. Kempe Losely MSS (1836) 426 Stitching and soeing silke, 4s. 6d.

1826 M. R. Mitford Our Village II. 190 Trimmings, ribands, sewing-silk, and lining.

1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. III. 506/1 Veil, vest, and shawl embroidering silk.

1887 Colonial & Indian Exhib., London 1886: Rep. Colonial Sections 332 The other parts worked in wool and silk.

1920 A. K. Arthur Embroidery Bk. ii. 10 Silks of different makes, embroidery or knitting, filosel,..and..‘Tyrian’, are all good for various purposes.

1951 L. Town Bookbinding by Hand xiv. 175 This is necessary to prevent fraying of the sewing silk as it passes round the headband.

1973 C. Gavin Snow Mountain xxiii. 392 The drawn-thread work they were doing, on coarse linen with silks brought from their home.

f. artificial silk (see artificial adj. and n. Compounds 2).

a. The cloth or textile fabric woven or made from this.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from silk > [noun]

silkc1000

say1350

bombycine1727

silken soy1765

squeeze1839

soy1927

c1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 174 Gyf man mæte ðæt he seoluc oððe godweb hæbbe.

c1275 On Serving Christ 23 in Old Eng. Misc. 91 For seolk, ne for cendal, ne for deore wedes.

c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 392 With clene linnene cloth..And noþer in pal ne in seolke.

1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. vii. 19 And ȝe, loueli Ladies.., Þat habbeþ selk, and sendel souweþ..Chesybles for Chapeleyns.

a1400–50 Alexander 2401 Þat Iowell..was full sekirly & soft all in silke falden.

a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) iii. viii. sig. O.iiii^v It maketh vs..goe muche more gaye and glorious in sight, garnished with silke.

1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Familye of Loue f. 75 They..affirmed, it was vnlawfull to weare silke.

1650 J. Howell Addit. Lett. xx. 33 in Epistolæ Ho-elianæ (ed. 2) Cloth is the more substantiall,..But silk is more smooth and slik.

1654 tr. M. Martini Bellum Tartaricum 35 Their Boots, which they make either of Silk, or of Horse~skin.

1708 London 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.

1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World II. 53 I was this morning to buy silk for a night-cap.

1834 J. R. McCulloch Dict. Commerce (ed. 2) 1029 Silk had..been used by persons of distinction two centuries previously.

1908 Betw. Trent & Ancholme 276 This lady wore grey silk.

figurative.c1315 Shoreham i. 33 Ne wynd þou naut þy senne ine silke.1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) II. 90 The beauty of that [goat] which Nature clothes with silk on the rocks of Angora.1843 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last of Barons I. i. iii. 56 He that 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, obtain, or take silk; also (rare), to have silk. Collectively, denoting the persons wearing such gowns. (Cf. 3d.)

ΘΚΠ

society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > counsellor, barrister, or advocate > K.C. or Q.C. > indication of rank of

silk1821

society > law > legal profession > practice law [verb (intransitive)] > be a K.C. or Q.C.

to be called within the bar1768

to receive, obtain, or take silk1875

1821 J. Bentham Elements Art of Packing 49 Our solicitor has heard with due attention the speeches delivered from learned silk.

1866 A. J. Munby Diary 2 Nov. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 229 Dined in Hall..the talk was of who is to have silk presently and make way for us rising juniors.

1875 A. Trollope 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.

1882 Daily News 25 May 2/5 He received silk in 1868.

1882 Society 4 Nov. 20/1 Ere long he ‘spoiled silk’ (as the saying is), and was made a Serjeant.

1897 Standard 16 Oct. 3/4 [He] soon obtained great distinction.., which increased on his taking silk.

1925 W. S. Maugham Painted Veil vii. 25 He was still a junior and many younger men than he had already taken silk.

1979 G. 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 to sport, don, or wear silk: to ride (in a race).

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > for jockey > material of

silk1884

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > engage in horse racing [verb (intransitive)] > ride in race

to sport, don, or wear silk1884

1884 H. 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?

1891 Daily News 10 Dec. 2/5 A capital start was made with the Snow Steeplechase for which seven sported silk.

1898 A. 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 to take to or hit the silk, to bale out of an aircraft by parachute. U.S.A.F. slang.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > air or space travel > parachuting > parachute [verb (intransitive)] > jump out of aircraft > in emergency

to bail out1925

to take to or hit the silk1933

to hit the silk1941

to step out1942

to punch out1964

1933 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 37 828 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.

1943 R. Whelan Flying Tigers 100 After gaining altitude Mott's plane burst into flames and he ‘hit the silk’.

1956 N. Marsh Off with his Head (1957) viii. 177 Over Germany..we got clobbered and I hit the silk.

a. With a and plural. A particular make of silk cloth or fabric.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from silk > [noun] > types of

silka1538

a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 63 Fyne clothys says & sylkys.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 672 Sondry riche merchaundises, as cloth of Gold, Syluer, Veluet, Satten, and other silkes.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 399 Our silkes haue the name of this Region, where it is made of a most fine wooll.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. x. 238 Chinese silks coming almost directly to Acapulco.

1797 A. Radcliffe Italian I. i. 11 She passed whole days in embroidering silks.

1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 82 One among his gentlewomen Display'd a splendid silk of foreign loom.

1897 T. Watts-Dunton Aylwin viii. ii An eccentric dress of Japanese silks.

b. plural. Garments made of silk; silk stockings; spec. a jockey's cap and jacket carrying the horse-owner's colours. Cf. sense 2c above.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [noun] > silk > for sewing or embroidery

sewing silk1480

silks?a1513

buttonhole twist1840

sewings1844

embroidery silk1851

machine twist1863

tailor's twist1873

horsetail1880

rope1880

twist1890

rope embroidery silk1895

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [noun] > made from specific material > silk

silks?a1513

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and feet > [noun] > stocking > types of > other > stockings

under-stockings1605

under-stock1821

silks1836

moose shanks1887

tabi1895

nylons1940

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > set or suit of clothes > [noun] > for specific people > other

wedding-suit1594

Highland dress1703

ihram1704

Quaker dress1718

cap and gown1853

montuno1941

silks1946

hanbok1952

montuna1955

samfu1955

strip1974

a1513 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen in Poems (1998) I. 42 My self suld be full semlie in silkis arrayit.

1602 T. Heywood How Man may chuse Good Wife iv. iii A huffing wench..whose ruffling silks Make with their motion music unto love.

1691 The Weesils ii. 7 His Wife too, in..richest Silks, can rustle with the best.

a1704 T. Brown Satyr upon French King in Wks. (1707) I. i. 91 My Spouse, alas; must flaunt in Silks no more.

1753 T. Gray Long Story in Six Poems 15 A brace of Warriors, not in buff, But rustling in their silks and tissues.

1785 W. Cowper Task vi. 941 As she sweeps him with her whistling silks.

1816 W. Scott Antiquary I. vi. 114 The elderly lady rustled in silks and satins.

1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xxi. 212 A very dusty skeleton in a blue coat, black knee-shorts, and silks.

1946 Sun (Baltimore) 31 May 15/1 Lovely Imp, carrying the Maryland silks of R. Bruce Livie's..Stable, won on a disqualification.

1955 Radio Times 22 Apr. 9/3 The jockeys..in gaudy silks.

1977 New 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.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > dress, robe, or gown > types of > made of specific material

farandine1672

tabby1726

satin1730

lutestring1756

silk1793

muslinc1794

zephyrine1820

merino1839

mousseline1847

moire1851

velvet1851

tarlatan1852

velveteen1873

tussore1884

paper dress1886

Gloria1895

Tibet1900

tub-dress1909

tub-frock1909

1793 F. Burney Let. 4 Feb. (1972) II. 12 My love & thanks to my dear Sarah; though she ought to send my black silk.

1819 M. Edgeworth Let. ?10 Mar. (1971) 181 Fanny wore her green silk and it looked beautiful.

1861 A. Trollope Tales of All Countries 211 The black silk was not long,..nor wide in its skirts.

1897 ‘S. Grand’ Beth Bk. xxxix. 390 She had never worn her white silk trimmed with myrtle.

d. A King's (or Queen's) Counsel; a ‘silk gown’. (Cf. 2b.)

ΘΚΠ

society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > counsellor, barrister, or advocate > K.C. or Q.C.

King's (Queen's) Counsel1689

silk gown1836

Q.C.1846

silk1884

1884 St. James's Gaz. 8 Feb. 5/1 The retainer of some eighteen ‘silks’ and at least as many junior counsel.

1889 F. E. Gretton Memory's Harkback 120 Jervis, afterwards Justice of Chester, was the senior silk.

e. A silk hat.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > hat > made of specific material > silk

silk1906

1906 J. Joyce Let. 12 Aug. (1966) II. 148 I am curious to know how he looked in a tall silk.

1930 D. 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.

a. Originally and chiefly U.S. The silk-like filiform styles of the female flower of unripe maize. in silk, at that stage when the silk is prominent.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [noun] > maize > silky filaments

silk1770

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [adjective] > of maize > of maize plants

in silk1770

milo1882

c1662 in New Eng. 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.]

1770 G. Washington Diary 25 Aug. (1925) I. 395 Many Stalks were putting out entire new Shoots with young and tender Silk.

1774 P. V. Fithian Jrnl. 19 July in Jrnl. & Lett. (1900) 212 The Corn is beginning pretty generally to tassel, & I saw one hill in Silk, and in Blossom.

1784 J. F. D. Smyth Tour U.S.A. I. xxxviii. 295 These tassels are as soft as silk... This state of it is denominated the Corn being in silk.

a1817 T. Dwight Trav. New-Eng. & N.-Y. (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.

1847 D. Drake Pioneer Life Kentucky (1870) 52 By the month of August the corn is in silk.

1894 Cent. Mag. Apr. 850 The pistillate flower of the maize..was appropriately called the ‘silk’.

1914 J. Burtt-Davy Maize v. 233 In some cases, and in the same breed, the silks appear before the tassels.

1950 New Biol. 8 46 Pollen from each plant is then poured on to the silks of the same plant.

1980 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) 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. The staple of cotton.

ΚΠ

1870 J. Yeats Nat. Hist. Commerce (1872) ii. 200 The value of cotton in commerce depends on the length and strength of the silk or staple. Cottons may be divided into the long silk and short silk.

c. A silky lustre in some rubies and sapphires, due to microscopic crystals, and considered a defect.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > gem or precious stone > corundum gemstones > [noun] > defect in

silk1886

1886 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 122 380 In many genuine rubies we find a silky structure (called silk by jewellers).

1903 W. 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.

1929 M. 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.

1976 B. 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. elliptical.

a. A silk snapper. (See sense Compounds 5 and cf. silt n. 3, Compounds 2.)

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Percoidei > [noun] > family Lutjanidae (snappers) > member of (snapper)

snapper1697

mangrove snapper1735

red snapper1775

silka1818

sara1837

yelting1873

schoolmaster snapper1876

sea-lawyer1876

silk snapper1876

opakapaka1905

red emperor1936

a1818 M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. India Proprietor (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.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of grain > milling or grinding > [noun] > corn-mill > other parts of mills

stooling1558

mill-eye1611

mill-hoop1611

rack-staff1611

breasting1767

hopper-boy1787

paddle1795

cockhead1805

silk1879

looder1881

tollera1884

1879 Encycl. 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.

Compounds

C1. Attributive, passing into adj.

a. Made of silk or silken material; silken.

ΚΠ

1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. iii. 276 Schal no seriaunt for þat seruise were a selk houue.

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 4430 Þat riche ring..with a red silk þrede þe quen bond..a-boute þe wolwes necke.

1551 in J. Strype Mem. Ref. (1721) III. 116 No man under the degree of a gentleman to wear any silk points.

1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. vi. 272 [They] pay no Custome..for any silke ware.

1655 W. Gouge & T. Gouge Learned Comm. Hebrewes (ix. 1) ii. 300 The roomes within it were divided by Silk curtains.

1730 A. Gordon tr. F. S. Maffei Compl. Hist. Anc. Amphitheatres 350 Pure Silk-Stuff was valued at the like Weight of Gold.

1741 Countess of Pomfret in Countess of Hartford & Countess of Pomfret Corr. (1805) III. 216 With a black silk snail-string about their necks.

1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 395 The silk-yarn employed by the weavers.

1866 Cornhill 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.

proverbial (also used allusively).1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew at Luggs Ye can ne make a Silk-Purse of a Sowe's Luggs, a Scotch Proverb.1764 S. Foote Mayor of Garret i. 25 Who can make a silk purse of a sow's ear?1812 W. Scott Let. 16 July (1932) III. 140 I am labouring here to contradict an old proverb, and make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.1907 E. Gosse Father & Son ix. 239 ‘Even the Lord can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear,’ said Miss Marks.1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 129 Women..want to change the man himself And turn the poor silk glove into a lusty sow's ear.1932 R. 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.1959 M. 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.1978 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 126 339/2 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.in combination.1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Een Zijde-laecken-verkooper, a Silke-cloath-seller.1846 J. Lindley Veg. Kingdom 31 Silk button galls.1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 287 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV Products of the silk-ribbon loom were exhibited.1895 Baily'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.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from silk > [noun] > types of > thin or light weight

sendala1225

silk chiffon1530

silk gauze1530

silk jersey1530

patola1605

China silk1614

China-crape1813

senshaw1817

tullec1818

zephyrine1820

mousseline de soie1850

lisse1852

illusion1857

sendaline1866

crêpe de chine1872

louisine1882

chameleon tulle1896

météor1908

silk velvet1530

refusado1598

French velvet1602

cut velvet1840

piece velvet1871

ring velvet1895

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 270/1 Sylke chamlet, camelot de soye.

1548 in J. Strype Mem. Ref. (1721) II. 208 A counterpoint of silk~say.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Burat, silke-rash; or any kind of stuffe thats halfe silke, and halfe worsted.

1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 391 Fine English Broad Cloaths, Silk, Silk-Druggets.

1780 Philos. Trans. 1779 (Royal Soc.) 69 673 I have also excited a very considerable electrical force on strong silk velvet.

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Silk-plush, a material used for articles of ladies' dress; also very extensively for covering the stuff bodies of men's hats.

1880 L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) xi. 156 It was silk velvet and ten shillings a yard.

1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 449/2 Silk Canvas or Berlin..is of a very even and delicate make.

1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 449/2 Silk Damask is now superseded as a dress material.

1925 Eaton's News Weekly 26 Sept. 17 Very new, the Gossard Dancelette girdle of silk jersey.

1965 Which? Mar. 95/1 Silk chiffon, a light, open mesh fabric, soft and smooth. For scarves, lingerie, evening dresses, millinery.

1965 T. 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.

in combination.1594 MS Canterbury Marriage Licences Jacobus Denewe.., Canterbury, silkrashweaver.1597 in G. J. Piccope Lancs. & Cheshire Wills (1860) II. 229 My silke rash gowne.1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 410 The silk-russet grape Ravuscula, the asse-hued grape Asinisca, please not the eie.1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 457 This thick liquid is passed..through fine hair and silk lawn sieves.1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Silk-gauze manufacturer, a gauze-weaver.1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 104. 231/1 Ladies' black pure silk jersey mitts.1966 P. O'Donnell Sabre-tooth vi. 91 Ilse..put on a white silk-velvet dressing gown.1976 Times 9 Mar. 9 (advt.) Hand made silk chiffon blouse.1980 D. Creed Scarab xviii. 173 Her camel-coloured silk-jersey dress.

c. Of persons: Clad in silk. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [adjective] > wearing specific material

woolwardc1315

under line (occasionally in line)c1330

fox-furred1592

furred1592

tuftaffeta1598

tissued?16..

satin1603

silk1603

russet1604

tuftaffety1612

plush1615

sericated1623

sheepskinned1628

silken1640

lawny1647

plushed1650

satined1652

harden1654

sackclotheda1656

bearskinned1694

well-furred?1707

furry1717

brocaded1767

flannelled1784

lawned1798

buckskinned1829

corduroyed1832

silked1837

silkened1841

friezy1849

fustianed1849

velveted1850

buffed1863

buckramed1880

craped1880

crapy1891

velveteened1896

mohaired1914

tweeded1921

tweedy1923

leather1961

1603 T. Dekker et al. Patient Grissill sig. C^v Those changeable Silke gallants, who..reade no bookes but a looking glasse.

1624 S. Purchas Of Captaine Smith in J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia sig. A Fetters are forged For Silke-sotts, Milk-sops.

d. Resembling silk in lustre; silky.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > flatness or levelness > smoothness > [adjective] > like specific substance or material

silken1513

marble1558

ivorya1586

velvet1592

satin1605

silka1616

velvet-like1677

satin-like1680

satined1693

satiny1693

velvety1752

marbly1814

satin-smooth1838

ivorine1888

ivoried1890

swanskin1925

the world > matter > light > reflection > [adjective] > lustrous or shining with reflected light > of or like precious stones, metals, or fabrics > with a silky lustre

silka1616

silk-like1672

silky1731

a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iii. v. 47 'Tis not..your blacke silke haire..That can entame my spirits.

1879 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 84 The vault and scope and schooling..In silk-ash kept from cooling.

1888 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 198 Silk-beech, scrolled ashih.

e. Made of or produced by silk threads, embroidery silk, etc.

ΚΠ

1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 77/1 A piece of silk embroidery.

1880 E. J. Reed Japan II. 191 A very large and particularly fine specimen of Kioto silk embroidery in a picture..crowded with detailed figures exquisitely worked.

1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 91/1 Among the chief manufactures may be mentioned the gold, silver, and silk embroideries.

C2. Attributive.

a. With terms referring to the structure, operations, or produce of the silkworms.

silk-bag n.

ΚΠ

1817 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (1818) II. xxvii. 467 A super~abundance of the gum which fills its silk-bags.

† silk-bottom n. Obsolete

ΚΠ

1622 J. Bonoeil Treat. Art of making Silke 72 in King James VI & I Gracious Let. to Earle of South-Hampton [They] are bigger bodied, and make larger silke-bottomes.

silk-cavity n.

ΚΠ

1881 J. Tyndall Ess. Floating Matter of Air 11 They..fill the silk cavities.

silk-cod n.

ΚΠ

1620 Observ. Silkwormes D j Silke coddes, two shillings sixe~pence the pound.

silk-gland n.

ΚΠ

1870 G. Rolleston Forms Animal Life 81 The disappearance of the silk-glands during the pupa stage.

silk organ n.

ΚΠ

1881 J. Tyndall Ess. Floating Matter of Air 14 The silk organ itself was charged with corpuscles.

silk-pod n.

ΚΠ

1760 Philos. Trans. 1759 (Royal Soc.) 51 54 This new species of silk-pod.

silk reservoir n.

ΚΠ

1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. IV. xl. 112 There are a pair of silk reservoirs (sericteria).

silk-secretor n.

ΚΠ

1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. IV. xli. 122 In general, the outlet of the silk-secretors is at the mouth.

silk-seed n.

ΚΠ

1622 J. Bonoeil Treat. Art of making Silke 70 in King James VI & I Gracious Let. to Earle of South-Hampton They make of one ounce of Spanish silke-seede, eight, nine and tenne pound of silke.

silk vessel n.

ΚΠ

1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. 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.

silk-commodity n.

ΚΠ

1622 J. Bonoeil Treat. Art of making Silke 71 in King James VI & I Gracious Let. to Earle of South-Hampton Their clymate is nothing so proper for this silke-commodity as Virginia is.

silk country n.

ΚΠ

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk Ardebil, another City of Persia, not far distant from these Silk Countries.

silk culture n.

ΚΠ

1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 1721/2 The silk culture was introduced into Louisiana in 1718.

silk district n.

ΚΠ

1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 262 Throughout the silk district of France.

silk engine n.

ΚΠ

1778 Philos. Trans. 1777 (Royal Soc.) 67 462 The smaller end of that part of a silk engine called a star.

1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 269 Bobbin Mechanism of the Silk Engine.

silk factory n.

ΚΠ

1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 474 The silk factories throughout the kingdom make little or no demand on muscular effort.

silk loom n.

ΚΠ

1797 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 487/1 The silk-loom has been much improved lately.

1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 300 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV A company was formed..and some silk-looms were imported.

silk machinery n.

ΚΠ

1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 276 The portion of the silk-machinery which contains the swifts.

silk manufactory n.

ΚΠ

1703 Sc. Acts, Anne (1824) XI. 50/1 The managers of the woollen and silk manufactories.

silk manufacture n.

ΚΠ

1701 in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1909) 7 98 Then we saw their Silk Manufacture.

1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 399 The silk manufacture now may be compared with what the cotton manufacture was about thirty years ago.

silk mill n.

ΚΠ

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Mill There are also Silk-Mills, for spinning, throwing, and twisting Silks.

1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 266 When these mechanicians took the silk-mill in hand.

silk reel n.

ΚΠ

1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 393 In Piedmont..the manufacture is carried on by aid of the silk reel.

silk shop n.

ΚΠ

1703 London Gaz. No. 3918/4 Enquire..of Mr. Kimpson at the Castle, a Silk-shop.

silk trade n.

ΚΠ

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk The Silk Trade is the Principal in China, and that which employs the most Hands.

1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 246 The silk trade of Great Britain..may be valued at 7,000,000 l. sterling.

C3. Objective:

a. With agent-nouns.

silk-breeder n.

ΚΠ

1865 Pall Mall Gaz. 26 June 10 The silk-breeders of France are..in a position of the greatest distress.

silk-carder n.

ΚΠ

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk Carding; which was perform'd by the common Silk-Carders.

silk-doubler n.

ΚΠ

1662 Act 14 Chas. II c. 15 §6 Every such Silk-winder and Doubler.

1723 London Gaz. No. 6187/4 Ann Brown, late of Wapping Stepney, Silk-Doubler.

silk-dresser n.

ΚΠ

1771 Burrow's Rep. III. 1346 In their said Trade and Business of Silk-Dressers.

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Silk-dresser, a stiffener and smoother of silk.

silk grower n.

ΚΠ

1842 in Proc. Vermont Hist. Soc. (1940) 8 156 Called on Mr. Dexter the silk grower.

1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 1719/2 This filament the silk growers..unwind by various ingenious means.

silk knitter n.

ΚΠ

1636 W. Davenant Witts v. sig. I2^v 'Twill make 'um sing like the Silk-knitters of Cock-lane!

silk labourer n.

ΚΠ

1712 R. Blackmore Creation ii. 66 They..ripen Food For the Silk-Labourers of the Mulberry Wood.

silk-maker n.

ΚΠ

14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 692 Hec sereatrix, a sylkmaker.

silk manufacturer n.

ΚΠ

1845 Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 717/2 The various plans which..our silk manufacturers have introduced into their mills.

silk-mercer n.

ΚΠ

1781 S. Johnson Gay in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets VIII. 2 [Gay] was sent to London..and placed apprentice with a silk mercer.

silk merchant n.

ΚΠ

1823 W. Scott Quentin Durward I. vi. 125 The house of..Maître Pierre, the great silk-merchant.

silk printer n.

ΚΠ

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Silk printer, a stamper of silk.

silk reeler n.

ΚΠ

1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. Great Brit. vi. 186 The silk-reelers of Italy transfer the silk to a..reel, as they draw it from the cocoons.

silk twister n.

ΚΠ

1720 J. Strype Stow's Surv. of London (rev. ed.) II. v. xiv. 233/2 There were several..Silk-Twisters, Foreigners,..living [c1560] in St. Marten's Liberty.

1798 H. Colebrooke in Asiatick Researches 5 61 The Pundraca and Pattasutracára, or feeder of silk worms and silk twister, deserve notice.

silk waterer n.

ΚΠ

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Silk-waterer, one who clouds, waves, or waters silk, by passing two pieces..between metallic rollers.

b. With verbal nouns and participial adjectives.Also in names of machines, as silk-doubling, -sizing, -softening, -sorting machine: see E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. (1875) and Suppl. (1884) s.v.

silk-bearing adj.

ΚΠ

1872 P. M. Duncan tr. L. Figuier Insect World iv. 221 The double silk-bearing gland.

silk-emitting adj.

ΚΠ

1729 R. Savage Wanderer v. 217 The leaf the silk-emitting reptile feeds.

silk-growing adj.

ΚΠ

1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 60/2 The ailanthus silkworm..now spread through many silk-growing regions.

silk-making adj.

ΚΠ

1579 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) III. 152/2 The offer and contracting anent the art of silk-making.

silk-producing adj.

ΚΠ

1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 1719/2 These being the chief silk-producing countries.

1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 314 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV The Bombycidæ, or spinners, including the silk-producing moths.

silk-reeling adj.

ΚΠ

1888 Harper's Mag. June 47 Silk reeling is one of the industries [of Kansas].

silk-spinning adj.

ΚΠ

1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. Great Brit. 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.

silk-weaving adj.

ΚΠ

1677 A. Marvell Let. 29 Mar. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 193 Yesterday a Committee was appointed to consider how to incourage the Silk-weaving in England.

1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 264 There has been a constant depreciation of the wages of silk weaving in France, from the year 1810.

silk-winding adj.

ΚΠ

1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Indouanadura, a silke-winding.

1841 R. Browning Pippa Passes Introd., in Bells & Pomegranates No. I 3/2 Next twelvemonth's toil At wearisome silk-winding, coil on coil!

C4. Instrumental.

silk-broidered adj.

ΚΠ

1753 G. West tr. Pindar Odes (new ed.) I. 234 And to thy Tomb, as Off'rings, shall be brought Silk-broider'd Mantles.

silk-covered adj.

ΚΠ

1849 H. M. Noad Lect. Electr. (ed. 3) 367 They are all coated with coils of silk-covered wire.

silk-hatted adj.

ΚΠ

1903 W. Le Queux Seven Secrets (ed. 2) xxii. 219 The silk-hatted, frock-coated existence of the fashionable physician.

1920 P. G. Wodehouse Damsel in Distress iv The silk hatted young man.

1976 L. St. Clair Fortune in Death iii. 27 A bank messenger, very properly silk-hatted and frock-coated.

silk-hosed adj.

ΚΠ

1820 W. Scott Monastery III. ii. 40 No silk-hosed reveller of the presence-chamber.

silk-hung adj.

ΚΠ

1947 W. H. Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) ii. 35 And mother wrote Swift and sure in the silk-hung saloon Her large round letters.

silk-jacketed adj.

ΚΠ

1876 ‘Ouida’ In Winter City xii. 369 Postillions, silk-jacketted.., and with ribboned straw hats.

silk-lined adj.

ΚΠ

1901 Westm. 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.

1979 Country Life 1 Feb. 309/1 (advt.) Silk-lined mohair coats.

silk-pillowed adj.

ΚΠ

1820 J. Keats Lamia ii, in Lamia & Other Poems 40 Each..silk-pillow'd at his ease.

silk-robed adj.

ΚΠ

1857 G. W. Thornbury Songs of Cavaliers & Roundheads 306 The silk-robed men with peacock plumes.

silk-socked adj.

ΚΠ

1918 G. Frankau One of Them in Poet. Wks. (1923) II. xix. 123 Silk-socked; bright monocled; gallant.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 497 Bella..lifts..a plump buskined hoof and a full pastern, silksocked.

silk-walled adj.

ΚΠ

1884 R. Browning Ferishtah's Fancies (1885) 8 Inside—gold-roofed silk-walled silence round about!

silk-wrapped adj.

ΚΠ

1639 G. Daniel Vervicensis 679 Noe silke-wrapt wantons here..Shall graspe Luxurious Edward.

C5.

a. Special combinations:

silk-coal n. a variety of coal found in Shropshire.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > coal or types of coal > [noun]

coal1253

sea-coal1253

pit-coal1483

cannel1541

earth coala1552

horse coal1552

Newcastle coal1552

stone-coal1585

cannel coal1587

parrot1594

burn-coal1597

lithanthrax1612

stony coal1617

Welsh coala1618

land-coala1661

foot coal1665

peacock coal1686

rough coal1686

white coal1686

heathen-coalc1697

coal-stone1708

round1708

stone-coal1708

bench-coal1712

slipper coal1712

black coal1713

culm1742

rock coal1750

board coal1761

Bovey coal1761

house coal1784

mineral coal1785

splint1789

splint coal1789

jet coal1794

anthracite1797

wood-coal1799

blind-coal1802

black diamond1803

silk-coal1803

glance-coal1805

lignite1808

Welsh stone-coal1808

soft1811

spout coals1821

spouter1821

Wallsend1821

brown coal1833

paper coal1833

steam-coal1850

peat-coal1851

cherry-coal1853

household1854

sinter coal1854

oil coal1856

raker1857

Kilkenny coal1861

Pottery coal1867

silkstone1867

block coal1871

admiralty1877

rattlejack1877

bunker1883

fusain1883

smitham1883

bunker coal1885

triping1886

trolley coal1890

kibble1891

sea-borne1892

jet1893

steam1897

sack coal1898

Welsh1898

navigation coal1900

Coalite1906

clarain1919

durain1919

vitrain1919

single1921

kolm1930

hards1956

1803 J. Plymley Gen. View Agric. Shropshire 55 Coal, called the silk-coal.

silk embroidery n. embroidery worked with silk threads.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > sewn or ornamented textile fabric > [noun] > embroidery or ornamental sewing > done with specific thread or yarn > silk

silk-workc1390

bordriea1697

silk embroidery1837

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > sewing or ornamenting textile fabric > [noun] > embroidery or ornamental sewing > done in silk

black work1559

silk embroidery1837

1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 77/1 A piece of silk embroidery.

1889 J. J. Rein Industries Japan iii. iv. 389 Oftentimes this silk embroidery is connected very skilfully with the painting or printing of the material.

1982 E. North Anc. 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.

silk-glue n. sericin.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > other substances > [noun] > substances in or of silk

sericin1859

silk-glue1886

1886 E. Knecht tr. R. Benedikt Chem. Coal-tar Colours 39 Both fibroine and sericine (silk-glue) consist of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen.

silk gown n. = sense 3d.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > counsellor, barrister, or advocate > K.C. or Q.C.

King's (Queen's) Counsel1689

silk gown1836

Q.C.1846

silk1884

1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. II. 134 ‘I presume you have studied for the bar?..’ ‘No..’. ‘But you have been much among the silk gowns..?’

silk green n. a colour-substance used in paper making.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > named colours > green or greenness > green colouring matter > [noun] > pigment or dye > other pigments

vert1481

verditer1505

green bice1548

sap1572

sap-green1578

terre-verte1658

verditer1665

ultramarine blue (or colour)1686

emerald1712

Prussian green1738

Saxon green1753

verditel1778

Brunswick green1790

mountain green1822

Vienna green1825

bladder-green1830

Verona green1835

mitis green1839

Paris green1847

Hooker's green1860

Guignet's green1862

emerald green1879

silk green1880

viridian1882

Cassel green1885

Milori green1885

Victoria green1890

Montpellier green1930

cadmium green1934

guaco1936

Monastral1936

1880 J. Dunbar Pract. Papermaker 58 Silk green is a chemically pure colouring matter, producing beautiful shades of green.

silk-gut n. the gut in the silkworm from which the silk is produced.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Bombycidae > genus Bombyx > silk moth > caterpillar of bombyx mori or silkworm > gut

silk-gut1839

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1115 The rest of the entrails resembles boiled spinage, and therefore can occasion no mistake as to the silk-gut.

silk hat n. a cylindrical hat having a light stiff body covered with silk plush or shag.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > hat > tall > cylindrical > top hat > silk

silk hat1546

plug1848

chimney-pot hat1851

plug hat1860

box hat1864

shiner1867

1546–7 in J. W. Clay Testamenta Eboracensia (1902) VI. 252 My best silke hat.

1845 Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 760/2 The silk hat, with a body of felt and a nap of silk plush.

1893 G. Hill Hist. Eng. Dress II. 253 The tall silk hat, introduced from France about 1840.

† silk-maid n. Obsolete a maid employed to make silk articles of dress.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making other clothing > [noun] > making other items of clothing > one who makes other items of clothing

wimpler1260

paltock-maker1376

wimplester1379

point-maker1405

girdler1428

silk-maid1474

pointer1500

middlemana1525

jack-maker1541

paste-wife1550

silkman1553

body-maker1573

linen-armourer1603

bodice-maker1672

costumier1798

costumer1830

costumist1842

rober1852

stock-maker1858

tie-maker1901

1474 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 479 My sylkemayde whyche makyth parte off suche as she shall weere.

silk paper n. a kind of tissue-paper.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > material for making paper > paper > [noun] > thin paper or tissue-paper

tissue-paper1777

tissue1780

silk paper1796

silver paper1800

pelure1887

Japanese tissue1900

washi1978

1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 345 Thin as silk paper.

1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 375 There were formerly manufactures of silk-paper in this town [Samarcand].

silk road n. (frequently with initial capitals) = silk route n.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > [noun] > trading journey > trade route

trade road1828

trade route1828

road1883

silk route1913

silk road1931

society > travel > means of travel > route or way > [noun] > used by traders

trade road1828

trade route1828

silk road1931

1931 J. 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.

1936 P. 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.

1982 Times 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.

silk route n. (frequently with initial capitals) a trade route from China through India to the West, used in ancient times by traders in silk.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > [noun] > trading journey > trade route

trade road1828

trade route1828

road1883

silk route1913

silk road1931

society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > specific roads

Watling Streetc885

fosseOE

Fosse Streetc1175

Fosse Way1422

Fosse Road1724

Outer Circle1829

corniche road1837

Salarian Way1866

silk route1913

North Circular1921

Radar Alley1971

1913 J. Buchan Divus Johnson in Runagates Club (1928) vi. 152 Russian geographers were interesting themselves in the line of the old silk route to Cathay.

1949 D. Carruthers Beyond Caspian iv. 95 The Silk Route was not a disjointed affair, built up in sections, linking likely markets.

1981 Daily Tel. 30 Mar. 18/5 Tartar hats..recall the Silk Route of Marco Polo.

silk-shag n. (see ).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > subclass Actinopterygii > order Clupeiformes > [noun] > family Clupeidae and herrings > member of > young

brit1602

bret1726

yawling1758

sile1769

silk-shag1880–4

sprat1880–4

sparling1884

sild1921

a1618 J. Sylvester Monodia in Wks. (1880) II. 330/1 Embroidered gowns Of grass-green silk-shag.

1880–4 F. Day Fishes Great Brit. & Ireland II. 210 Young herring in Northumberland..are likewise termed silk-shag.

silk snapper n. a Bermudan fish (see quot. 1876 and sense 5a, and cf. silt-snapper n. at silt n. Compounds 2).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Percoidei > [noun] > family Lutjanidae (snappers) > member of (snapper)

snapper1697

mangrove snapper1735

red snapper1775

silka1818

sara1837

yelting1873

schoolmaster snapper1876

sea-lawyer1876

silk snapper1876

opakapaka1905

red emperor1936

1876 G. B. Goode Catal. Fishes Bermudas 55 The Schoolmaster Snapper and Silk Snapper of the fishermen probably belong to this genus [Lutjanus aya, family Pristipomatidæ].

1884 Proc. U.S. National Mus. VII. (1885) 454 Some young ‘Silk Snappers’ brought by Mr. Gilbert from Aspinwall.

† silk snatcher n. Obsolete (see quot.).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > [noun] > by snatching > specific

silk snatcher1785

bag-snatcher1908

tear-away1938

1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Silk snatchers, thieves who snatch hoods or bonnets from persons walking in the streets.

silk-surface adj. that has a surface resembling silk.

ΚΠ

1932 Sale Catal. Pure Silk Surface Stockings.

silk waste n. the fibres which remain after the reeling of silk yarn, or those obtained from damaged cocoons.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > treated or processed textiles > [noun] > silk > waste

floss silk1760

burr1798

silk waste1842

strass1858

1842 Encycl. Brit. 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.

1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 67 Silk Waste Spinner.

1901 Chambers's Jrnl. Apr. 217/1 The silk-waste, plush, and velvet industries.

1965 A. Brearley Woollen Industry v. 27 Silk wastes are used in woollen blends for their own distinctive merits.

† silk wool n. Obsolete a mixed yarn made of wool and either silk or staple fibre (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [noun] > of mixed fibres

silk wool1859

arrasene1881

vigogne yarn1884

Lastex1931

1859 L. 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.

1908 Practitioner Nov. 760 Silcool is a form of vegetable silk~wool.

1928 F. M. Rowe tr. Reinthaler 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. Botany. In the names of trees, shrubs, or plants..

silk-bark n. a small evergreen tree, Maytenus acuminata, belonging to the family Celastraceæ and native to southern Africa.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > African trees or shrubs > [noun] > evergreens

kamassi1793

Mimusops1836

silk-bark1851

wild chestnut1854

mohonono1857

kippersol1893

Cape chestnut1912

sausage-tree1915

moepel1934

1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. IV. 951 (table) Silkbark. Carriage-poles, spars. The bark, when broken, appears silky.

1894 T. R. Sim Flora of Kaffraria 28 (heading) Silkbark.

1907 T. R. Sim Forests & Forest Flora Cape Good Hope xiv. 184 Silk-bark... A small branched unarmed tree.

1912 Cape 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.

1972 E. Palmer & N. Pitman Trees Southern Afr. II. 1285 The silkbark or sybas has a wide distribution, occurring from eastern tropical Africa to the Cape.

silk-maudlin n. (see quots.).

ΚΠ

1712 Philos. Trans. 1710–12 (Royal Soc.) 27 419 Stoll's Cape Silk-Maudlin [is]..an ever-green Shrub, with deep dented Leaves.

silk-oak n. (see quots.).

ΚΠ

1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 551/2 Lofty trees..with a girth of eight feet, as in Grevillea robusta, the Silk Oak of the colonists.

1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 798/2 Silky, or Silkbark Oak.]

silk-tassel n. (also silk-tassel bush, silk-tassel tree) = garrya n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > non-British shrubs > [noun] > American or West Indian

ramgoat bush1566

burton-wood1697

cowage cherry1725

Jack-in-the-busha1726

screw tree1739

lady of the night1752

goatweed1756

solandra1797

silk-tassel1833

garrya1835

matico1839

choisya1840

Romneya1845

jointer1847

creosote-bush1851

creosote-plant1854

bridal wreath1856

ocotillo1856

adelaster1863

sage rose1864

white horse1864

tree poppy1866

Tacsonia1869

rain tree1877

piquillin bush1884

tassel-bush1891

bush poppy1899

Mexican orange1923

shrimp plant1941

1833 Penny Cycl. I. 60/2 Acacia Julibrissin, silk-tassel acacia.

1897 M. E. Parsons Wild Flowers Calif. 370 (heading) Silk-tassel tree. Quinine-bush.

1949 J. 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.

1976 Hortus 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.

silk-tree n. (see quots.).

ΚΠ

1852 G. W. Johnson Cottage Gardeners' Dict. 5/1 Acacia julibrissia (silk-tree).

1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 201 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV The silk tree (Albizzia julibrissin) is a low-headed spreading-tree, possessed of the most graceful foliage.

1880 C. E. Bessey Bot. 547 Some East and West Indian trees of the genus Bombax..are known as Silk Trees.

silk wood n. (a) (see quot.1775); (b) = Calabur tree n.; (c) = Queensland maple n. at Queensland n. 1g.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > tree or shrub groups > maples > [noun]

maple treeOE

maplec1385

plane tree1562

great maple1597

sycamore-tree1597

sycamore1598

sugar-tree1705

sugar maple1731

red maple1767

scarlet maple1768

rock maple1774

white maple1774

silk wood1775

moosewood1778

mountain maple1785

box elder1787

acer1793

sycamore maple1796

mock plane1797

Montpellier maple1797

water maple1803

soft maple1806

sugar-wood1809

swamp maple1810

low maple1813

maple bush1821

Neapolitan maple1833

snake-bark1838

moose-maple1839

sap-tree1843

Manitoba maple1887

Japanese maple1898

curly maple1909

Queensland maple1915

paperbark maple1927

Amur maple1934

1775 G. White Let. 1 Nov. in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 199 Stalks of the polytricum commune, or great golden maiden-hair, which they [sc. foresters] call silk-wood.

1888 N.E.D. at Calabur tree Name given in the West Indies to Muntingia Calabura (family Tiliaceæ), the Silk-wood tree.

1891 Cent. Dict. Silkwood, a shrub, Muntingia Calabura.

1909 F. M. Bailey Comprehensive Catal. Queensland Plants 91 Flindersia..Brayleyana..Wood has been cut under the name of ‘Silkwood’.

1922 W. Schlich Man. Forestry (ed. 4) I. 229 Silkwood (Flindersia Mazlini).

1948 A. L. Howard Man. Timbers of World (ed. 3) 354 Maple silk~wood is moderately elastic.

silk wort n. (see quot.).

ΚΠ

1897 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 3rd Ser. 8 617 One [water-weed] known locally as network or silkwort, on account of its thread-like stems.

c. Entomology. In the names of various silk-producing insects:

† silk-fly n. Obsolete the silkworm moth.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Bombycidae > genus Bombyx > silk moth

silk-fly1599

silkworm moth1815

silk moth1826

silk-spinner1868

1599 T. Moffett Silkewormes 26 Silke-flies I meane, which not on breast alone But all throughout..Besides pure white, else colour carry none.

silk insect n. (see quots.).

ΚΠ

1798 C. Cruttwell Univ. Gazetteer (1808) at China The silk insects, which are different from silk-worms, resemble caterpillars.

silk moth n. (see quots.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Bombycidae > genus Bombyx > silk moth

silk-fly1599

silkworm moth1815

silk moth1826

silk-spinner1868

1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. xxx. 220 Attacus Paphia, a giant silk-moth.

1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man (1890) ii. x. 278 The male and female cocoons of the silk-moth (Bombyx mori).

silk-spider n. one or other of various species of silk-spinning spiders.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Aranea > member of (spider) > unspecified type > web-spinning or sedentary

spinnerc1220

web-worker1658

silk-spider1728

sedentary1815

web-spinner1825

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk The Silk-Spider make[s] a Silk, every whit as beauiful, strong, and shining, as the Silk-worm.

1866 Athenæum No. 2019. 26/1 A species of silk-spider.

silk-spinner n. a spider or a silk-moth.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Aranea > member of (spider)

lopc888

attercopc1000

lobc1000

spinnerc1220

araina1300

spider1340

yraync1384

copa1400

spincop1474

copspin1484

ettercapa1525

web-weaver1534

spinster1636

cob1657

weaver1825

araneidan1835

Meggie-lickie-spinnie1849

silk-spinner1868

orbitele1890

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Bombycidae > genus Bombyx > silk moth

silk-fly1599

silkworm moth1815

silk moth1826

silk-spinner1868

1868 C. M. Yonge Chaplet of Pearls II. xlii. 246 A colony of silk-spinners, attracted by the mulberry-leaves of the old abbey garden.

1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad xxxiii. 365 This old dried-up reservoir is occupied by a few ghostly silk-spinners now.

1896 R. Lydekker Royal Nat. Hist. VI. iii. 95 (heading) The silk-spinners,—Family Bombycidæ.

d. Ornithology. In the names of birds or fowls:

silk-bunting n. U.S. one or other of the buntings of the genus Spiza, esp. S. americana.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > seed eaters > [noun] > family Emberizidae > subfamily Cardinalinae > genus Spiza (dickcissel)

dickcissel1874

silk-bunting1884

1884 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) iii. 387 Spiza, Silk Buntings.

silk cock n. a species of domestic fowl, esp. Phasianus gallus or Gallus lanatus, native to eastern Asia.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > [noun] > genus Phasianus > phasianus gallus (silk fowl)

silk cock1783

silk fowl1835

painted quail1848

silky1850

1783 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds II. ii. 708 Silk Cock, Phasianus gallus.

1829 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom VIII. 222 The Silk Cock..is of a pure white.

silk fowl n. a silk-cock or -hen; (see also quot. 1835-6).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > [noun] > genus Phasianus > phasianus gallus (silk fowl)

silk cock1783

silk fowl1835

painted quail1848

silky1850

1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 270/1 The Silk or Negro-fowl of the Cape de Verd Islands (Gallus Morio, Temminck).

1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 645/2 The silk fowl best known is that in which the plumage is perfectly white.

silk-hen n. the female of the silk-cock.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > [noun] > genus Phasianus > phasianus gallus (silk fowl) > female

silk-hen1868

1868 C. Darwin Variations Animals & Plants xiv I reared a large number of mongrels from a silk-hen by a Spanish cock.

1884 St. James's Gaz. 27 Nov. 5/2 In Germany the silk hen is frequently remarkable for the length of her spurs.

† silk stare n. Obsolete = silk starling n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > larger song birds > [noun] > family Sturnidae > genus Sturnus > sturnus sericeus

silk stare1781

silk starling1817

1781 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds I. i. 10 Silk Stare. Size of a Starling... The plumage in general glossy and silky.

silk starling n. a species of starling ( Sturnus sericeus), native to China.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > larger song birds > [noun] > family Sturnidae > genus Sturnus > sturnus sericeus

silk stare1781

silk starling1817

1817 J. F. Stephens Shaw's Gen. Zool. X. ii. 497 Silk starling.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	silk
释义	silkn.adj. Brit. /sɪlk/, U.S. /sɪlk/ Forms: α. Old English sioloc, seoloc, seoluc, seolc, Middle English seolk ( solk), Middle English seolke; Middle English selc, Middle English selk(e. β. Middle English silc, Middle English– silk (1500s silck), Middle English–1600s silke; Middle English sylk(e, Middle English cylk(e, 1500s sylcke. Etymology: Old English sioloc, seoloc, etc. (for earlier siluc) masculine, varying in form and gender from Old Norse and Icelandic silki* neuter (Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish silke); not found in the other Germanic languages, but represented also by Old Church Slavonic šelkŭ (Russian šëlk). The ultimate source is commonly supposed to be Latin sēricus or Greek σηρικός silken, < Latin Sēres, Greek Σῆρες, the Asian 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. 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.With defining word, usually indicating silk at some process or stage of manufacture, or some particular kind of silk: see hard silk at hard adj. 1h, raw silk n. at raw adj. and n.¹ Compounds 2, reeled silk n. at reeled adj. Compounds, soft silk at soft adj. 11b, spun adj. 1a, thrown adj. 1b; also Jap silk at Jap adj., schappe n., tussore n. 1, etc. waste silk: see waste silk n. at waste n. Compounds 2. Virginian silk (a plant-name): see Virginian n. and adj.¹ ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > silk > [noun] silkc888 the Seres' wool1587 c888 [implied in: Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. xv Seolocenra hrægla mid mistlicum bleowum hi ne gimdon. (at silken adj. 1)]. a1000 Boeth. Metr. viii. 24 Næs þa scealca nan þe..cuðe..heora wæda..sioloce siowian. c1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 56 Seowa mid seolce fæste. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 33 Arbaces fond hym spynnynge reed selk at þe distaf. c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness l. 790 Royl rollande fax to raw sylk lyke. 1463–4 Rolls of Parl. V. 506/1 In rawe Silke allone unwrought. ?c1510 tr. Newe Landes & People founde by Kynge of Portyngale sig. E They spynne lyke the wormes y^t the sylke spynneth. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Isa. xix. B Soch as laboure vpon flax & sylcke. 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 124 The Seres, famous for the fine silk that their woods do yeeld. 1637 J. Milton Comus 25 Spinning worms, That in their green shops weave the smooth-hair'd silk. 1712 London Gaz. No. 5010/4 China Raw and Thrown Silk and Sleeve Silk. 1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VIII. 52 After some months feeding, they lay, upon every leaf, small bundles, or cones of silk. 1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 234 The matter of the silk is liquid in the body of the worm, but it hardens in the air. 1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 235 The silk of a cocoon weighs two and a half grains. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. iii. 505/2 Illustrations of the production of waste silk from the eggs [sc. cocoons] of the silk-worm. 1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 459/1 That part of ravelled silk thrown on one side in the filature of the cocoons. 1887 Colonial & Indian Exhib., London 1886: Rep. Colonial Sections 352 Specimens of waste silk under the head of ‘Punjam’. in extended use.1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 143 They bowell them, and fill theyr bodies with Sugar, and Silke of Wooll. b. In the phrase of silk, denoting the substance of which a garment, etc., is composed; frequently passing into sense 2. ΚΠ c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 11359 Claðes soften al of white seolke [c1300 Otho solke]. c1275 Laȝamon Brut 4549 Of solke was þat seil-cloþ. c1340 Nominale (Skeat) 551 Bauderik of sylke. 1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. Prol. 84 Þer houeþ an Hundret In Houues of selk. c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (Roxb.) xix. 87 Wele arraid with clathez of gold and of silke. 1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert xxxviii. 117 Þe seide relikes were wounde..in a cloth of silk precious I-now. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Sam. ii. 19 His mother also made him a litle cote of sylke. 1576 G. Gascoigne Steele Glas sig. D.ij Our sutes of Silke. a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) ii. iv. 69 Her Bed-chamber..was hang'd With Tapistry of Silke . View more context for this quotation 1640 Tables Rates & Duties in J. Entick New Hist. London (1766) II. 169 Boradoes of silk. 1842 Ld. Tennyson Sir Launcelot & Queen Guinevere in Poems (new ed.) II. 207 A gown of grass-green silk she wore. c. In comparisons, esp. soft as silk. ΚΠ a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 39 Body ant brest wel mad al,..eyþer side soft ase sylk. c1386 G. Chaucer Squire's Tale 605 Theigh thou..straw her cage faire and soft as silk. c1400 26 Pol. Poems 126 My bloode ys nessher than ys sylke. a1513 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen in Poems (1998) I. 43 Soft and soupill as the silk. c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 3993 Cassandra..was a Clene Maydon, Semely of a Sise, as the silke white. a1732 J. Gay New Song Similes in Poet. Wks. (1784) II. 115 Plump as a Partridge was I known, And Soft as Silk my Skin. d. A silken thread. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [noun] > silk silk1684 1684 R. Waller tr. Ess. Nat. Exper. Acad. del Cimento 67 We took..the bladder out of another Fish, and tyed the two Ends with a Silk. 1891 Penny 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; frequently with defining word, as embroidery silk, sewing silk, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [noun] > silk > for sewing or embroidery sewing silk1480 silks?a1513 buttonhole twist1840 sewings1844 embroidery silk1851 machine twist1863 tailor's twist1873 horsetail1880 rope1880 twist1890 rope embroidery silk1895 1480 Wardrobe Accts. Edward IV in N. H. Nicolas Privy Purse Expenses Elizabeth of York (1830) 136 Sowing sylk, j lb. ij unces and a quarter. 1621 in A. J. Kempe Losely MSS (1836) 426 Stitching and soeing silke, 4s. 6d. 1826 M. R. Mitford Our Village II. 190 Trimmings, ribands, sewing-silk, and lining. 1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. III. 506/1 Veil, vest, and shawl embroidering silk. 1887 Colonial & Indian Exhib., London 1886: Rep. Colonial Sections 332 The other parts worked in wool and silk. 1920 A. K. Arthur Embroidery Bk. ii. 10 Silks of different makes, embroidery or knitting, filosel,..and..‘Tyrian’, are all good for various purposes. 1951 L. Town Bookbinding by Hand xiv. 175 This is necessary to prevent fraying of the sewing silk as it passes round the headband. 1973 C. Gavin Snow Mountain xxiii. 392 The drawn-thread work they were doing, on coarse linen with silks brought from their home. f. artificial silk (see artificial adj. and n. Compounds 2). 2. a. The cloth or textile fabric woven or made from this. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from silk > [noun] silkc1000 say1350 bombycine1727 silken soy1765 squeeze1839 soy1927 c1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 174 Gyf man mæte ðæt he seoluc oððe godweb hæbbe. c1275 On Serving Christ 23 in Old Eng. Misc. 91 For seolk, ne for cendal, ne for deore wedes. c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 392 With clene linnene cloth..And noþer in pal ne in seolke. 1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. vii. 19 And ȝe, loueli Ladies.., Þat habbeþ selk, and sendel souweþ..Chesybles for Chapeleyns. a1400–50 Alexander 2401 Þat Iowell..was full sekirly & soft all in silke falden. a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) iii. viii. sig. O.iiii^v It maketh vs..goe muche more gaye and glorious in sight, garnished with silke. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Familye of Loue f. 75 They..affirmed, it was vnlawfull to weare silke. 1650 J. Howell Addit. Lett. xx. 33 in Epistolæ Ho-elianæ (ed. 2) Cloth is the more substantiall,..But silk is more smooth and slik. 1654 tr. M. Martini Bellum Tartaricum 35 Their Boots, which they make either of Silk, or of Horse~skin. 1708 London 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. 1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World II. 53 I was this morning to buy silk for a night-cap. 1834 J. R. McCulloch Dict. Commerce (ed. 2) 1029 Silk had..been used by persons of distinction two centuries previously. 1908 Betw. Trent & Ancholme 276 This lady wore grey silk. figurative.c1315 Shoreham i. 33 Ne wynd þou naut þy senne ine silke.1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) II. 90 The beauty of that [goat] which Nature clothes with silk on the rocks of Angora.1843 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last of Barons I. i. iii. 56 He that 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, obtain, or take silk; also (rare), to have silk. Collectively, denoting the persons wearing such gowns. (Cf. 3d.) ΘΚΠ society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > counsellor, barrister, or advocate > K.C. or Q.C. > indication of rank of silk1821 society > law > legal profession > practice law [verb (intransitive)] > be a K.C. or Q.C. to be called within the bar1768 to receive, obtain, or take silk1875 1821 J. Bentham Elements Art of Packing 49 Our solicitor has heard with due attention the speeches delivered from learned silk. 1866 A. J. Munby Diary 2 Nov. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 229 Dined in Hall..the talk was of who is to have silk presently and make way for us rising juniors. 1875 A. Trollope 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. 1882 Daily News 25 May 2/5 He received silk in 1868. 1882 Society 4 Nov. 20/1 Ere long he ‘spoiled silk’ (as the saying is), and was made a Serjeant. 1897 Standard 16 Oct. 3/4 [He] soon obtained great distinction.., which increased on his taking silk. 1925 W. S. Maugham Painted Veil vii. 25 He was still a junior and many younger men than he had already taken silk. 1979 G. 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 to sport, don, or wear silk: to ride (in a race). ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > for jockey > material of silk1884 society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > engage in horse racing [verb (intransitive)] > ride in race to sport, don, or wear silk1884 1884 H. 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? 1891 Daily News 10 Dec. 2/5 A capital start was made with the Snow Steeplechase for which seven sported silk. 1898 A. 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 to take to or hit the silk, to bale out of an aircraft by parachute. U.S.A.F. slang. ΘΚΠ society > travel > air or space travel > parachuting > parachute [verb (intransitive)] > jump out of aircraft > in emergency to bail out1925 to take to or hit the silk1933 to hit the silk1941 to step out1942 to punch out1964 1933 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 37 828 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. 1943 R. Whelan Flying Tigers 100 After gaining altitude Mott's plane burst into flames and he ‘hit the silk’. 1956 N. Marsh Off with his Head (1957) viii. 177 Over Germany..we got clobbered and I hit the silk. 3. a. With a and plural. A particular make of silk cloth or fabric. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from silk > [noun] > types of silka1538 a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 63 Fyne clothys says & sylkys. 1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 672 Sondry riche merchaundises, as cloth of Gold, Syluer, Veluet, Satten, and other silkes. 1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 399 Our silkes haue the name of this Region, where it is made of a most fine wooll. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. x. 238 Chinese silks coming almost directly to Acapulco. 1797 A. Radcliffe Italian I. i. 11 She passed whole days in embroidering silks. 1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 82 One among his gentlewomen Display'd a splendid silk of foreign loom. 1897 T. Watts-Dunton Aylwin viii. ii An eccentric dress of Japanese silks. b. plural. Garments made of silk; silk stockings; spec. a jockey's cap and jacket carrying the horse-owner's colours. Cf. sense 2c above. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [noun] > silk > for sewing or embroidery sewing silk1480 silks?a1513 buttonhole twist1840 sewings1844 embroidery silk1851 machine twist1863 tailor's twist1873 horsetail1880 rope1880 twist1890 rope embroidery silk1895 the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [noun] > made from specific material > silk silks?a1513 the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and feet > [noun] > stocking > types of > other > stockings under-stockings1605 under-stock1821 silks1836 moose shanks1887 tabi1895 nylons1940 the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > set or suit of clothes > [noun] > for specific people > other wedding-suit1594 Highland dress1703 ihram1704 Quaker dress1718 cap and gown1853 montuno1941 silks1946 hanbok1952 montuna1955 samfu1955 strip1974 a1513 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen in Poems (1998) I. 42 My self suld be full semlie in silkis arrayit. 1602 T. Heywood How Man may chuse Good Wife iv. iii A huffing wench..whose ruffling silks Make with their motion music unto love. 1691 The Weesils ii. 7 His Wife too, in..richest Silks, can rustle with the best. a1704 T. Brown Satyr upon French King in Wks. (1707) I. i. 91 My Spouse, alas; must flaunt in Silks no more. 1753 T. Gray Long Story in Six Poems 15 A brace of Warriors, not in buff, But rustling in their silks and tissues. 1785 W. Cowper Task vi. 941 As she sweeps him with her whistling silks. 1816 W. Scott Antiquary I. vi. 114 The elderly lady rustled in silks and satins. 1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xxi. 212 A very dusty skeleton in a blue coat, black knee-shorts, and silks. 1946 Sun (Baltimore) 31 May 15/1 Lovely Imp, carrying the Maryland silks of R. Bruce Livie's..Stable, won on a disqualification. 1955 Radio Times 22 Apr. 9/3 The jockeys..in gaudy silks. 1977 New 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. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > dress, robe, or gown > types of > made of specific material farandine1672 tabby1726 satin1730 lutestring1756 silk1793 muslinc1794 zephyrine1820 merino1839 mousseline1847 moire1851 velvet1851 tarlatan1852 velveteen1873 tussore1884 paper dress1886 Gloria1895 Tibet1900 tub-dress1909 tub-frock1909 1793 F. Burney Let. 4 Feb. (1972) II. 12 My love & thanks to my dear Sarah; though she ought to send my black silk. 1819 M. Edgeworth Let. ?10 Mar. (1971) 181 Fanny wore her green silk and it looked beautiful. 1861 A. Trollope Tales of All Countries 211 The black silk was not long,..nor wide in its skirts. 1897 ‘S. Grand’ Beth Bk. xxxix. 390 She had never worn her white silk trimmed with myrtle. d. A King's (or Queen's) Counsel; a ‘silk gown’. (Cf. 2b.) ΘΚΠ society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > counsellor, barrister, or advocate > K.C. or Q.C. King's (Queen's) Counsel1689 silk gown1836 Q.C.1846 silk1884 1884 St. James's Gaz. 8 Feb. 5/1 The retainer of some eighteen ‘silks’ and at least as many junior counsel. 1889 F. E. Gretton Memory's Harkback 120 Jervis, afterwards Justice of Chester, was the senior silk. e. A silk hat. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > hat > made of specific material > silk silk1906 1906 J. Joyce Let. 12 Aug. (1966) II. 148 I am curious to know how he looked in a tall silk. 1930 D. 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. Originally and chiefly U.S. The silk-like filiform styles of the female flower of unripe maize. in silk, at that stage when the silk is prominent. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [noun] > maize > silky filaments silk1770 the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [adjective] > of maize > of maize plants in silk1770 milo1882 c1662 in New Eng. 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.] 1770 G. Washington Diary 25 Aug. (1925) I. 395 Many Stalks were putting out entire new Shoots with young and tender Silk. 1774 P. V. Fithian Jrnl. 19 July in Jrnl. & Lett. (1900) 212 The Corn is beginning pretty generally to tassel, & I saw one hill in Silk, and in Blossom. 1784 J. F. D. Smyth Tour U.S.A. I. xxxviii. 295 These tassels are as soft as silk... This state of it is denominated the Corn being in silk. a1817 T. Dwight Trav. New-Eng. & N.-Y. (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. 1847 D. Drake Pioneer Life Kentucky (1870) 52 By the month of August the corn is in silk. 1894 Cent. Mag. Apr. 850 The pistillate flower of the maize..was appropriately called the ‘silk’. 1914 J. Burtt-Davy Maize v. 233 In some cases, and in the same breed, the silks appear before the tassels. 1950 New Biol. 8 46 Pollen from each plant is then poured on to the silks of the same plant. 1980 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) 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. The staple of cotton. ΚΠ 1870 J. Yeats Nat. Hist. Commerce (1872) ii. 200 The value of cotton in commerce depends on the length and strength of the silk or staple. Cottons may be divided into the long silk and short silk. c. A silky lustre in some rubies and sapphires, due to microscopic crystals, and considered a defect. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > gem or precious stone > corundum gemstones > [noun] > defect in silk1886 1886 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 122 380 In many genuine rubies we find a silky structure (called silk by jewellers). 1903 W. 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. 1929 M. 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. 1976 B. 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. elliptical. a. A silk snapper. (See sense Compounds 5 and cf. silt n. 3, Compounds 2.) ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Percoidei > [noun] > family Lutjanidae (snappers) > member of (snapper) snapper1697 mangrove snapper1735 red snapper1775 silka1818 sara1837 yelting1873 schoolmaster snapper1876 sea-lawyer1876 silk snapper1876 opakapaka1905 red emperor1936 a1818 M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. India Proprietor (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. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of grain > milling or grinding > [noun] > corn-mill > other parts of mills stooling1558 mill-eye1611 mill-hoop1611 rack-staff1611 breasting1767 hopper-boy1787 paddle1795 cockhead1805 silk1879 looder1881 tollera1884 1879 Encycl. 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. Compounds C1. Attributive, passing into adj. a. Made of silk or silken material; silken. ΚΠ 1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. iii. 276 Schal no seriaunt for þat seruise were a selk houue. a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 4430 Þat riche ring..with a red silk þrede þe quen bond..a-boute þe wolwes necke. 1551 in J. Strype Mem. Ref. (1721) III. 116 No man under the degree of a gentleman to wear any silk points. 1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. vi. 272 [They] pay no Custome..for any silke ware. 1655 W. Gouge & T. Gouge Learned Comm. Hebrewes (ix. 1) ii. 300 The roomes within it were divided by Silk curtains. 1730 A. Gordon tr. F. S. Maffei Compl. Hist. Anc. Amphitheatres 350 Pure Silk-Stuff was valued at the like Weight of Gold. 1741 Countess of Pomfret in Countess of Hartford & Countess of Pomfret Corr. (1805) III. 216 With a black silk snail-string about their necks. 1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 395 The silk-yarn employed by the weavers. 1866 Cornhill 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. proverbial (also used allusively).1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew at Luggs Ye can ne make a Silk-Purse of a Sowe's Luggs, a Scotch Proverb.1764 S. Foote Mayor of Garret i. 25 Who can make a silk purse of a sow's ear?1812 W. Scott Let. 16 July (1932) III. 140 I am labouring here to contradict an old proverb, and make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.1907 E. Gosse Father & Son ix. 239 ‘Even the Lord can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear,’ said Miss Marks.1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 129 Women..want to change the man himself And turn the poor silk glove into a lusty sow's ear.1932 R. 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.1959 M. 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.1978 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 126 339/2 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.in combination.1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Een Zijde-laecken-verkooper, a Silke-cloath-seller.1846 J. Lindley Veg. Kingdom 31 Silk button galls.1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 287 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV Products of the silk-ribbon loom were exhibited.1895 Baily'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. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from silk > [noun] > types of > thin or light weight sendala1225 silk chiffon1530 silk gauze1530 silk jersey1530 patola1605 China silk1614 China-crape1813 senshaw1817 tullec1818 zephyrine1820 mousseline de soie1850 lisse1852 illusion1857 sendaline1866 crêpe de chine1872 louisine1882 chameleon tulle1896 météor1908 the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from silk > [noun] > types of > velvet > types of silk velvet1530 refusado1598 French velvet1602 cut velvet1840 piece velvet1871 ring velvet1895 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 270/1 Sylke chamlet, camelot de soye. 1548 in J. Strype Mem. Ref. (1721) II. 208 A counterpoint of silk~say. 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Burat, silke-rash; or any kind of stuffe thats halfe silke, and halfe worsted. 1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 391 Fine English Broad Cloaths, Silk, Silk-Druggets. 1780 Philos. Trans. 1779 (Royal Soc.) 69 673 I have also excited a very considerable electrical force on strong silk velvet. 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Silk-plush, a material used for articles of ladies' dress; also very extensively for covering the stuff bodies of men's hats. 1880 L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) xi. 156 It was silk velvet and ten shillings a yard. 1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 449/2 Silk Canvas or Berlin..is of a very even and delicate make. 1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 449/2 Silk Damask is now superseded as a dress material. 1925 Eaton's News Weekly 26 Sept. 17 Very new, the Gossard Dancelette girdle of silk jersey. 1965 Which? Mar. 95/1 Silk chiffon, a light, open mesh fabric, soft and smooth. For scarves, lingerie, evening dresses, millinery. 1965 T. 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. in combination.1594 MS Canterbury Marriage Licences Jacobus Denewe.., Canterbury, silkrashweaver.1597 in G. J. Piccope Lancs. & Cheshire Wills (1860) II. 229 My silke rash gowne.1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 410 The silk-russet grape Ravuscula, the asse-hued grape Asinisca, please not the eie.1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 457 This thick liquid is passed..through fine hair and silk lawn sieves.1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Silk-gauze manufacturer, a gauze-weaver.1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 104. 231/1 Ladies' black pure silk jersey mitts.1966 P. O'Donnell Sabre-tooth vi. 91 Ilse..put on a white silk-velvet dressing gown.1976 Times 9 Mar. 9 (advt.) Hand made silk chiffon blouse.1980 D. Creed Scarab xviii. 173 Her camel-coloured silk-jersey dress. c. Of persons: Clad in silk. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [adjective] > wearing specific material woolwardc1315 under line (occasionally in line)c1330 fox-furred1592 furred1592 tuftaffeta1598 tissued?16.. satin1603 silk1603 russet1604 tuftaffety1612 plush1615 sericated1623 sheepskinned1628 silken1640 lawny1647 plushed1650 satined1652 harden1654 sackclotheda1656 bearskinned1694 well-furred?1707 furry1717 brocaded1767 flannelled1784 lawned1798 buckskinned1829 corduroyed1832 silked1837 silkened1841 friezy1849 fustianed1849 velveted1850 buffed1863 buckramed1880 craped1880 crapy1891 velveteened1896 mohaired1914 tweeded1921 tweedy1923 leather1961 1603 T. Dekker et al. Patient Grissill sig. C^v Those changeable Silke gallants, who..reade no bookes but a looking glasse. 1624 S. Purchas Of Captaine Smith in J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia sig. A Fetters are forged For Silke-sotts, Milk-sops. d. Resembling silk in lustre; silky. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > flatness or levelness > smoothness > [adjective] > like specific substance or material silken1513 marble1558 ivorya1586 velvet1592 satin1605 silka1616 velvet-like1677 satin-like1680 satined1693 satiny1693 velvety1752 marbly1814 satin-smooth1838 ivorine1888 ivoried1890 swanskin1925 the world > matter > light > reflection > [adjective] > lustrous or shining with reflected light > of or like precious stones, metals, or fabrics > with a silky lustre silka1616 silk-like1672 silky1731 a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iii. v. 47 'Tis not..your blacke silke haire..That can entame my spirits. View more context for this quotation 1879 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 84 The vault and scope and schooling..In silk-ash kept from cooling. 1888 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 198 Silk-beech, scrolled ashih. e. Made of or produced by silk threads, embroidery silk, etc. ΚΠ 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 77/1 A piece of silk embroidery. 1880 E. J. Reed Japan II. 191 A very large and particularly fine specimen of Kioto silk embroidery in a picture..crowded with detailed figures exquisitely worked. 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 91/1 Among the chief manufactures may be mentioned the gold, silver, and silk embroideries. C2. Attributive. a. With terms referring to the structure, operations, or produce of the silkworms. silk-bag n. ΚΠ 1817 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (1818) II. xxvii. 467 A super~abundance of the gum which fills its silk-bags. † silk-bottom n. Obsolete ΚΠ 1622 J. Bonoeil Treat. Art of making Silke 72 in King James VI & I Gracious Let. to Earle of South-Hampton [They] are bigger bodied, and make larger silke-bottomes. silk-cavity n. ΚΠ 1881 J. Tyndall Ess. Floating Matter of Air 11 They..fill the silk cavities. silk-cod n. ΚΠ 1620 Observ. Silkwormes D j Silke coddes, two shillings sixe~pence the pound. silk-gland n. ΚΠ 1870 G. Rolleston Forms Animal Life 81 The disappearance of the silk-glands during the pupa stage. silk organ n. ΚΠ 1881 J. Tyndall Ess. Floating Matter of Air 14 The silk organ itself was charged with corpuscles. silk-pod n. ΚΠ 1760 Philos. Trans. 1759 (Royal Soc.) 51 54 This new species of silk-pod. silk reservoir n. ΚΠ 1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. IV. xl. 112 There are a pair of silk reservoirs (sericteria). silk-secretor n. ΚΠ 1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. IV. xli. 122 In general, the outlet of the silk-secretors is at the mouth. silk-seed n. ΚΠ 1622 J. Bonoeil Treat. Art of making Silke 70 in King James VI & I Gracious Let. to Earle of South-Hampton They make of one ounce of Spanish silke-seede, eight, nine and tenne pound of silke. silk vessel n. ΚΠ 1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. 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. silk-commodity n. ΚΠ 1622 J. Bonoeil Treat. Art of making Silke 71 in King James VI & I Gracious Let. to Earle of South-Hampton Their clymate is nothing so proper for this silke-commodity as Virginia is. silk country n. ΚΠ 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk Ardebil, another City of Persia, not far distant from these Silk Countries. silk culture n. ΚΠ 1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 1721/2 The silk culture was introduced into Louisiana in 1718. silk district n. ΚΠ 1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 262 Throughout the silk district of France. silk engine n. ΚΠ 1778 Philos. Trans. 1777 (Royal Soc.) 67 462 The smaller end of that part of a silk engine called a star. 1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 269 Bobbin Mechanism of the Silk Engine. silk factory n. ΚΠ 1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 474 The silk factories throughout the kingdom make little or no demand on muscular effort. silk loom n. ΚΠ 1797 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 487/1 The silk-loom has been much improved lately. 1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 300 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV A company was formed..and some silk-looms were imported. silk machinery n. ΚΠ 1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 276 The portion of the silk-machinery which contains the swifts. silk manufactory n. ΚΠ 1703 Sc. Acts, Anne (1824) XI. 50/1 The managers of the woollen and silk manufactories. silk manufacture n. ΚΠ 1701 in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1909) 7 98 Then we saw their Silk Manufacture. 1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 399 The silk manufacture now may be compared with what the cotton manufacture was about thirty years ago. silk mill n. ΚΠ 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Mill There are also Silk-Mills, for spinning, throwing, and twisting Silks. 1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 266 When these mechanicians took the silk-mill in hand. silk reel n. ΚΠ 1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 393 In Piedmont..the manufacture is carried on by aid of the silk reel. silk shop n. ΚΠ 1703 London Gaz. No. 3918/4 Enquire..of Mr. Kimpson at the Castle, a Silk-shop. silk trade n. ΚΠ 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk The Silk Trade is the Principal in China, and that which employs the most Hands. 1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 246 The silk trade of Great Britain..may be valued at 7,000,000 l. sterling. C3. Objective: a. With agent-nouns. silk-breeder n. ΚΠ 1865 Pall Mall Gaz. 26 June 10 The silk-breeders of France are..in a position of the greatest distress. silk-carder n. ΚΠ 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk Carding; which was perform'd by the common Silk-Carders. silk-doubler n. ΚΠ 1662 Act 14 Chas. II c. 15 §6 Every such Silk-winder and Doubler. 1723 London Gaz. No. 6187/4 Ann Brown, late of Wapping Stepney, Silk-Doubler. silk-dresser n. ΚΠ 1771 Burrow's Rep. III. 1346 In their said Trade and Business of Silk-Dressers. 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Silk-dresser, a stiffener and smoother of silk. silk grower n. ΚΠ 1842 in Proc. Vermont Hist. Soc. (1940) 8 156 Called on Mr. Dexter the silk grower. 1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 1719/2 This filament the silk growers..unwind by various ingenious means. silk knitter n. ΚΠ 1636 W. Davenant Witts v. sig. I2^v 'Twill make 'um sing like the Silk-knitters of Cock-lane! silk labourer n. ΚΠ 1712 R. Blackmore Creation ii. 66 They..ripen Food For the Silk-Labourers of the Mulberry Wood. silk-maker n. ΚΠ 14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 692 Hec sereatrix, a sylkmaker. silk manufacturer n. ΚΠ 1845 Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 717/2 The various plans which..our silk manufacturers have introduced into their mills. silk-mercer n. ΚΠ 1781 S. Johnson Gay in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets VIII. 2 [Gay] was sent to London..and placed apprentice with a silk mercer. silk merchant n. ΚΠ 1823 W. Scott Quentin Durward I. vi. 125 The house of..Maître Pierre, the great silk-merchant. silk printer n. ΚΠ 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Silk printer, a stamper of silk. silk reeler n. ΚΠ 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. Great Brit. vi. 186 The silk-reelers of Italy transfer the silk to a..reel, as they draw it from the cocoons. silk twister n. ΚΠ 1720 J. Strype Stow's Surv. of London (rev. ed.) II. v. xiv. 233/2 There were several..Silk-Twisters, Foreigners,..living [c1560] in St. Marten's Liberty. 1798 H. Colebrooke in Asiatick Researches 5 61 The Pundraca and Pattasutracára, or feeder of silk worms and silk twister, deserve notice. silk waterer n. ΚΠ 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Silk-waterer, one who clouds, waves, or waters silk, by passing two pieces..between metallic rollers. b. With verbal nouns and participial adjectives.Also in names of machines, as silk-doubling, -sizing, -softening, -sorting machine: see E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. (1875) and Suppl. (1884) s.v. silk-bearing adj. ΚΠ 1872 P. M. Duncan tr. L. Figuier Insect World iv. 221 The double silk-bearing gland. silk-emitting adj. ΚΠ 1729 R. Savage Wanderer v. 217 The leaf the silk-emitting reptile feeds. silk-growing adj. ΚΠ 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 60/2 The ailanthus silkworm..now spread through many silk-growing regions. silk-making adj. ΚΠ 1579 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) III. 152/2 The offer and contracting anent the art of silk-making. silk-producing adj. ΚΠ 1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 1719/2 These being the chief silk-producing countries. 1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 314 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV The Bombycidæ, or spinners, including the silk-producing moths. silk-reeling adj. ΚΠ 1888 Harper's Mag. June 47 Silk reeling is one of the industries [of Kansas]. silk-spinning adj. ΚΠ 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. Great Brit. 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. silk-weaving adj. ΚΠ 1677 A. Marvell Let. 29 Mar. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 193 Yesterday a Committee was appointed to consider how to incourage the Silk-weaving in England. 1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 264 There has been a constant depreciation of the wages of silk weaving in France, from the year 1810. silk-winding adj. ΚΠ 1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Indouanadura, a silke-winding. 1841 R. Browning Pippa Passes Introd., in Bells & Pomegranates No. I 3/2 Next twelvemonth's toil At wearisome silk-winding, coil on coil! C4. Instrumental. silk-broidered adj. ΚΠ 1753 G. West tr. Pindar Odes (new ed.) I. 234 And to thy Tomb, as Off'rings, shall be brought Silk-broider'd Mantles. silk-covered adj. ΚΠ 1849 H. M. Noad Lect. Electr. (ed. 3) 367 They are all coated with coils of silk-covered wire. silk-hatted adj. ΚΠ 1903 W. Le Queux Seven Secrets (ed. 2) xxii. 219 The silk-hatted, frock-coated existence of the fashionable physician. 1920 P. G. Wodehouse Damsel in Distress iv The silk hatted young man. 1976 L. St. Clair Fortune in Death iii. 27 A bank messenger, very properly silk-hatted and frock-coated. silk-hosed adj. ΚΠ 1820 W. Scott Monastery III. ii. 40 No silk-hosed reveller of the presence-chamber. silk-hung adj. ΚΠ 1947 W. H. Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) ii. 35 And mother wrote Swift and sure in the silk-hung saloon Her large round letters. silk-jacketed adj. ΚΠ 1876 ‘Ouida’ In Winter City xii. 369 Postillions, silk-jacketted.., and with ribboned straw hats. silk-lined adj. ΚΠ 1901 Westm. 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. 1979 Country Life 1 Feb. 309/1 (advt.) Silk-lined mohair coats. silk-pillowed adj. ΚΠ 1820 J. Keats Lamia ii, in Lamia & Other Poems 40 Each..silk-pillow'd at his ease. silk-robed adj. ΚΠ 1857 G. W. Thornbury Songs of Cavaliers & Roundheads 306 The silk-robed men with peacock plumes. silk-socked adj. ΚΠ 1918 G. Frankau One of Them in Poet. Wks. (1923) II. xix. 123 Silk-socked; bright monocled; gallant. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 497 Bella..lifts..a plump buskined hoof and a full pastern, silksocked. silk-walled adj. ΚΠ 1884 R. Browning Ferishtah's Fancies (1885) 8 Inside—gold-roofed silk-walled silence round about! silk-wrapped adj. ΚΠ 1639 G. Daniel Vervicensis 679 Noe silke-wrapt wantons here..Shall graspe Luxurious Edward. C5. a. Special combinations: silk-coal n. a variety of coal found in Shropshire. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > coal or types of coal > [noun] coal1253 sea-coal1253 pit-coal1483 cannel1541 earth coala1552 horse coal1552 Newcastle coal1552 stone-coal1585 cannel coal1587 parrot1594 burn-coal1597 lithanthrax1612 stony coal1617 Welsh coala1618 land-coala1661 foot coal1665 peacock coal1686 rough coal1686 white coal1686 heathen-coalc1697 coal-stone1708 round1708 stone-coal1708 bench-coal1712 slipper coal1712 black coal1713 culm1742 rock coal1750 board coal1761 Bovey coal1761 house coal1784 mineral coal1785 splint1789 splint coal1789 jet coal1794 anthracite1797 wood-coal1799 blind-coal1802 black diamond1803 silk-coal1803 glance-coal1805 lignite1808 Welsh stone-coal1808 soft1811 spout coals1821 spouter1821 Wallsend1821 brown coal1833 paper coal1833 steam-coal1850 peat-coal1851 cherry-coal1853 household1854 sinter coal1854 oil coal1856 raker1857 Kilkenny coal1861 Pottery coal1867 silkstone1867 block coal1871 admiralty1877 rattlejack1877 bunker1883 fusain1883 smitham1883 bunker coal1885 triping1886 trolley coal1890 kibble1891 sea-borne1892 jet1893 steam1897 sack coal1898 Welsh1898 navigation coal1900 Coalite1906 clarain1919 durain1919 vitrain1919 single1921 kolm1930 hards1956 1803 J. Plymley Gen. View Agric. Shropshire 55 Coal, called the silk-coal. silk embroidery n. embroidery worked with silk threads. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > sewn or ornamented textile fabric > [noun] > embroidery or ornamental sewing > done with specific thread or yarn > silk silk-workc1390 bordriea1697 silk embroidery1837 the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > sewing or ornamenting textile fabric > [noun] > embroidery or ornamental sewing > done in silk black work1559 silk embroidery1837 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 77/1 A piece of silk embroidery. 1889 J. J. Rein Industries Japan iii. iv. 389 Oftentimes this silk embroidery is connected very skilfully with the painting or printing of the material. 1982 E. North Anc. 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. silk-glue n. sericin. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > other substances > [noun] > substances in or of silk sericin1859 silk-glue1886 1886 E. Knecht tr. R. Benedikt Chem. Coal-tar Colours 39 Both fibroine and sericine (silk-glue) consist of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen. silk gown n. = sense 3d. ΘΚΠ society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > counsellor, barrister, or advocate > K.C. or Q.C. King's (Queen's) Counsel1689 silk gown1836 Q.C.1846 silk1884 1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. II. 134 ‘I presume you have studied for the bar?..’ ‘No..’. ‘But you have been much among the silk gowns..?’ silk green n. a colour-substance used in paper making. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > green or greenness > green colouring matter > [noun] > pigment or dye > other pigments vert1481 verditer1505 green bice1548 sap1572 sap-green1578 terre-verte1658 verditer1665 ultramarine blue (or colour)1686 emerald1712 Prussian green1738 Saxon green1753 verditel1778 Brunswick green1790 mountain green1822 Vienna green1825 bladder-green1830 Verona green1835 mitis green1839 Paris green1847 Hooker's green1860 Guignet's green1862 emerald green1879 silk green1880 viridian1882 Cassel green1885 Milori green1885 Victoria green1890 Montpellier green1930 cadmium green1934 guaco1936 Monastral1936 1880 J. Dunbar Pract. Papermaker 58 Silk green is a chemically pure colouring matter, producing beautiful shades of green. silk-gut n. the gut in the silkworm from which the silk is produced. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Bombycidae > genus Bombyx > silk moth > caterpillar of bombyx mori or silkworm > gut silk-gut1839 1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1115 The rest of the entrails resembles boiled spinage, and therefore can occasion no mistake as to the silk-gut. silk hat n. a cylindrical hat having a light stiff body covered with silk plush or shag. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > hat > tall > cylindrical > top hat > silk silk hat1546 plug1848 chimney-pot hat1851 plug hat1860 box hat1864 shiner1867 1546–7 in J. W. Clay Testamenta Eboracensia (1902) VI. 252 My best silke hat. 1845 Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 760/2 The silk hat, with a body of felt and a nap of silk plush. 1893 G. Hill Hist. Eng. Dress II. 253 The tall silk hat, introduced from France about 1840. † silk-maid n. Obsolete a maid employed to make silk articles of dress. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making other clothing > [noun] > making other items of clothing > one who makes other items of clothing wimpler1260 paltock-maker1376 wimplester1379 point-maker1405 girdler1428 silk-maid1474 pointer1500 middlemana1525 jack-maker1541 paste-wife1550 silkman1553 body-maker1573 linen-armourer1603 bodice-maker1672 costumier1798 costumer1830 costumist1842 rober1852 stock-maker1858 tie-maker1901 1474 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 479 My sylkemayde whyche makyth parte off suche as she shall weere. silk paper n. a kind of tissue-paper. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > material for making paper > paper > [noun] > thin paper or tissue-paper tissue-paper1777 tissue1780 silk paper1796 silver paper1800 pelure1887 Japanese tissue1900 washi1978 1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 345 Thin as silk paper. 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 375 There were formerly manufactures of silk-paper in this town [Samarcand]. silk road n. (frequently with initial capitals) = silk route n. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > [noun] > trading journey > trade route trade road1828 trade route1828 road1883 silk route1913 silk road1931 society > travel > means of travel > route or way > [noun] > used by traders trade road1828 trade route1828 silk road1931 1931 J. 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. 1936 P. 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. 1982 Times 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. silk route n. (frequently with initial capitals) a trade route from China through India to the West, used in ancient times by traders in silk. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > [noun] > trading journey > trade route trade road1828 trade route1828 road1883 silk route1913 silk road1931 society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > specific roads Watling Streetc885 fosseOE Fosse Streetc1175 Fosse Way1422 Fosse Road1724 Outer Circle1829 corniche road1837 Salarian Way1866 silk route1913 North Circular1921 Radar Alley1971 1913 J. Buchan Divus Johnson in Runagates Club (1928) vi. 152 Russian geographers were interesting themselves in the line of the old silk route to Cathay. 1949 D. Carruthers Beyond Caspian iv. 95 The Silk Route was not a disjointed affair, built up in sections, linking likely markets. 1981 Daily Tel. 30 Mar. 18/5 Tartar hats..recall the Silk Route of Marco Polo. silk-shag n. (see ). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > subclass Actinopterygii > order Clupeiformes > [noun] > family Clupeidae and herrings > member of > young brit1602 bret1726 yawling1758 sile1769 silk-shag1880–4 sprat1880–4 sparling1884 sild1921 a1618 J. Sylvester Monodia in Wks. (1880) II. 330/1 Embroidered gowns Of grass-green silk-shag. 1880–4 F. Day Fishes Great Brit. & Ireland II. 210 Young herring in Northumberland..are likewise termed silk-shag. silk snapper n. a Bermudan fish (see quot. 1876 and sense 5a, and cf. silt-snapper n. at silt n. Compounds 2). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Percoidei > [noun] > family Lutjanidae (snappers) > member of (snapper) snapper1697 mangrove snapper1735 red snapper1775 silka1818 sara1837 yelting1873 schoolmaster snapper1876 sea-lawyer1876 silk snapper1876 opakapaka1905 red emperor1936 1876 G. B. Goode Catal. Fishes Bermudas 55 The Schoolmaster Snapper and Silk Snapper of the fishermen probably belong to this genus [Lutjanus aya, family Pristipomatidæ]. 1884 Proc. U.S. National Mus. VII. (1885) 454 Some young ‘Silk Snappers’ brought by Mr. Gilbert from Aspinwall. † silk snatcher n. Obsolete (see quot.). ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > [noun] > by snatching > specific silk snatcher1785 bag-snatcher1908 tear-away1938 1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Silk snatchers, thieves who snatch hoods or bonnets from persons walking in the streets. silk-surface adj. that has a surface resembling silk. ΚΠ 1932 Sale Catal. Pure Silk Surface Stockings. silk waste n. the fibres which remain after the reeling of silk yarn, or those obtained from damaged cocoons. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > treated or processed textiles > [noun] > silk > waste floss silk1760 burr1798 silk waste1842 strass1858 1842 Encycl. Brit. 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. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 67 Silk Waste Spinner. 1901 Chambers's Jrnl. Apr. 217/1 The silk-waste, plush, and velvet industries. 1965 A. Brearley Woollen Industry v. 27 Silk wastes are used in woollen blends for their own distinctive merits. † silk wool n. Obsolete a mixed yarn made of wool and either silk or staple fibre (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [noun] > of mixed fibres silk wool1859 arrasene1881 vigogne yarn1884 Lastex1931 1859 L. 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. 1908 Practitioner Nov. 760 Silcool is a form of vegetable silk~wool. 1928 F. M. Rowe tr. Reinthaler 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. Botany. In the names of trees, shrubs, or plants.. silk-bark n. a small evergreen tree, Maytenus acuminata, belonging to the family Celastraceæ and native to southern Africa. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > African trees or shrubs > [noun] > evergreens kamassi1793 Mimusops1836 silk-bark1851 wild chestnut1854 mohonono1857 kippersol1893 Cape chestnut1912 sausage-tree1915 moepel1934 1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. IV. 951 (table) Silkbark. Carriage-poles, spars. The bark, when broken, appears silky. 1894 T. R. Sim Flora of Kaffraria 28 (heading) Silkbark. 1907 T. R. Sim Forests & Forest Flora Cape Good Hope xiv. 184 Silk-bark... A small branched unarmed tree. 1912 Cape 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. 1972 E. Palmer & N. Pitman Trees Southern Afr. II. 1285 The silkbark or sybas has a wide distribution, occurring from eastern tropical Africa to the Cape. silk-maudlin n. (see quots.). ΚΠ 1712 Philos. Trans. 1710–12 (Royal Soc.) 27 419 Stoll's Cape Silk-Maudlin [is]..an ever-green Shrub, with deep dented Leaves. silk-oak n. (see quots.). ΚΠ 1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 551/2 Lofty trees..with a girth of eight feet, as in Grevillea robusta, the Silk Oak of the colonists. 1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 798/2 Silky, or Silkbark Oak.] silk-tassel n. (also silk-tassel bush, silk-tassel tree) = garrya n. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > non-British shrubs > [noun] > American or West Indian ramgoat bush1566 burton-wood1697 cowage cherry1725 Jack-in-the-busha1726 screw tree1739 lady of the night1752 goatweed1756 solandra1797 silk-tassel1833 garrya1835 matico1839 choisya1840 Romneya1845 jointer1847 creosote-bush1851 creosote-plant1854 bridal wreath1856 ocotillo1856 adelaster1863 sage rose1864 white horse1864 tree poppy1866 Tacsonia1869 rain tree1877 piquillin bush1884 tassel-bush1891 bush poppy1899 Mexican orange1923 shrimp plant1941 1833 Penny Cycl. I. 60/2 Acacia Julibrissin, silk-tassel acacia. 1897 M. E. Parsons Wild Flowers Calif. 370 (heading) Silk-tassel tree. Quinine-bush. 1949 J. 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. 1976 Hortus 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. silk-tree n. (see quots.). ΚΠ 1852 G. W. Johnson Cottage Gardeners' Dict. 5/1 Acacia julibrissia (silk-tree). 1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 201 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV The silk tree (Albizzia julibrissin) is a low-headed spreading-tree, possessed of the most graceful foliage. 1880 C. E. Bessey Bot. 547 Some East and West Indian trees of the genus Bombax..are known as Silk Trees. silk wood n. (a) (see quot.1775); (b) = Calabur tree n.; (c) = Queensland maple n. at Queensland n. 1g. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > tree or shrub groups > maples > [noun] maple treeOE maplec1385 plane tree1562 great maple1597 sycamore-tree1597 sycamore1598 sugar-tree1705 sugar maple1731 red maple1767 scarlet maple1768 rock maple1774 white maple1774 silk wood1775 moosewood1778 mountain maple1785 box elder1787 acer1793 sycamore maple1796 mock plane1797 Montpellier maple1797 water maple1803 soft maple1806 sugar-wood1809 swamp maple1810 low maple1813 maple bush1821 Neapolitan maple1833 snake-bark1838 moose-maple1839 sap-tree1843 Manitoba maple1887 Japanese maple1898 curly maple1909 Queensland maple1915 paperbark maple1927 Amur maple1934 1775 G. White Let. 1 Nov. in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 199 Stalks of the polytricum commune, or great golden maiden-hair, which they [sc. foresters] call silk-wood. 1888 N.E.D. at Calabur tree Name given in the West Indies to Muntingia Calabura (family Tiliaceæ), the Silk-wood tree. 1891 Cent. Dict. Silkwood, a shrub, Muntingia Calabura. 1909 F. M. Bailey Comprehensive Catal. Queensland Plants 91 Flindersia..Brayleyana..Wood has been cut under the name of ‘Silkwood’. 1922 W. Schlich Man. Forestry (ed. 4) I. 229 Silkwood (Flindersia Mazlini). 1948 A. L. Howard Man. Timbers of World (ed. 3) 354 Maple silk~wood is moderately elastic. silk wort n. (see quot.). ΚΠ 1897 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 3rd Ser. 8 617 One [water-weed] known locally as network or silkwort, on account of its thread-like stems. c. Entomology. In the names of various silk-producing insects: † silk-fly n. Obsolete the silkworm moth. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Bombycidae > genus Bombyx > silk moth silk-fly1599 silkworm moth1815 silk moth1826 silk-spinner1868 1599 T. Moffett Silkewormes 26 Silke-flies I meane, which not on breast alone But all throughout..Besides pure white, else colour carry none. silk insect n. (see quots.). ΚΠ 1798 C. Cruttwell Univ. Gazetteer (1808) at China The silk insects, which are different from silk-worms, resemble caterpillars. silk moth n. (see quots.). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Bombycidae > genus Bombyx > silk moth silk-fly1599 silkworm moth1815 silk moth1826 silk-spinner1868 1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. xxx. 220 Attacus Paphia, a giant silk-moth. 1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man (1890) ii. x. 278 The male and female cocoons of the silk-moth (Bombyx mori). silk-spider n. one or other of various species of silk-spinning spiders. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Aranea > member of (spider) > unspecified type > web-spinning or sedentary spinnerc1220 web-worker1658 silk-spider1728 sedentary1815 web-spinner1825 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk The Silk-Spider make[s] a Silk, every whit as beauiful, strong, and shining, as the Silk-worm. 1866 Athenæum No. 2019. 26/1 A species of silk-spider. silk-spinner n. a spider or a silk-moth. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Aranea > member of (spider) lopc888 attercopc1000 lobc1000 spinnerc1220 araina1300 spider1340 yraync1384 copa1400 spincop1474 copspin1484 ettercapa1525 web-weaver1534 spinster1636 cob1657 weaver1825 araneidan1835 Meggie-lickie-spinnie1849 silk-spinner1868 orbitele1890 the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Bombycidae > genus Bombyx > silk moth silk-fly1599 silkworm moth1815 silk moth1826 silk-spinner1868 1868 C. M. Yonge Chaplet of Pearls II. xlii. 246 A colony of silk-spinners, attracted by the mulberry-leaves of the old abbey garden. 1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad xxxiii. 365 This old dried-up reservoir is occupied by a few ghostly silk-spinners now. 1896 R. Lydekker Royal Nat. Hist. VI. iii. 95 (heading) The silk-spinners,—Family Bombycidæ. d. Ornithology. In the names of birds or fowls: silk-bunting n. U.S. one or other of the buntings of the genus Spiza, esp. S. americana. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > seed eaters > [noun] > family Emberizidae > subfamily Cardinalinae > genus Spiza (dickcissel) dickcissel1874 silk-bunting1884 1884 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) iii. 387 Spiza, Silk Buntings. silk cock n. a species of domestic fowl, esp. Phasianus gallus or Gallus lanatus, native to eastern Asia. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > [noun] > genus Phasianus > phasianus gallus (silk fowl) silk cock1783 silk fowl1835 painted quail1848 silky1850 1783 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds II. ii. 708 Silk Cock, Phasianus gallus. 1829 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom VIII. 222 The Silk Cock..is of a pure white. silk fowl n. a silk-cock or -hen; (see also quot. 1835-6). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > [noun] > genus Phasianus > phasianus gallus (silk fowl) silk cock1783 silk fowl1835 painted quail1848 silky1850 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 270/1 The Silk or Negro-fowl of the Cape de Verd Islands (Gallus Morio, Temminck). 1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 645/2 The silk fowl best known is that in which the plumage is perfectly white. silk-hen n. the female of the silk-cock. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > [noun] > genus Phasianus > phasianus gallus (silk fowl) > female silk-hen1868 1868 C. Darwin Variations Animals & Plants xiv I reared a large number of mongrels from a silk-hen by a Spanish cock. 1884 St. James's Gaz. 27 Nov. 5/2 In Germany the silk hen is frequently remarkable for the length of her spurs. † silk stare n. Obsolete = silk starling n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > larger song birds > [noun] > family Sturnidae > genus Sturnus > sturnus sericeus silk stare1781 silk starling1817 1781 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds I. i. 10 Silk Stare. Size of a Starling... The plumage in general glossy and silky. silk starling n. a species of starling ( Sturnus sericeus), native to China. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > larger song birds > [noun] > family Sturnidae > genus Sturnus > sturnus sericeus silk stare1781 silk starling1817 1817 J. F. Stephens Shaw's Gen. Zool. X. ii. 497 Silk starling. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online June 2022). silkv. Etymology: < silk n. and adj. U.S. 1. a. transitive. To remove the silk from (maize). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of grain > [verb (transitive)] > clean maize silk1847 1847 D. Drake Pioneer Life Kentucky (1870) 52 My first business in the morning was to pull, and husk and silk enough [corn] for breakfast. 1892 Hist. Rev. Industr. & Commercial Growth York County (Pa.) 59 [They] make a specialty of..‘silkers’ for silking corn. 1972 E. Wigginton Foxfire Bk. 177 Shuck and silk corn that is in roasting ear. b. intransitive. Of maize: to produce the silk. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [verb (intransitive)] > grow or produce parts (of plants) grain1390 ear1442 spindle1577 to run to straw1660 tassel out1757 spean1829 spane1843 silk1878 1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xv. 245 The summers are short and the nights cool. Corn will not silk. 1902 Monthly Weather Rev. (U.S.) 30 346/1 Corn mostly silking or earing. 1939 Sun (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. 1948 Clarke 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. 2. transitive. To clothe in or cover with silk. ΚΠ 1919 T. Hardy Sunshade Poems 460 Twenty years have gone..Since it [sc. a sunshade] was silked in its white or pink. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2020). < n.adj.c888v.1847
随便看	laurel magnolia laurel oak laurel-band laurel-bay laurel-bearing laurel-berry laurel-bottle laurel-bough laurel-brake laurel-branch laurel-browed laurel-bush laurel-chaplet laurel-cherry laurel-cherry water laurel-crown laurel-crowned laurel-decked laurel-garland laurel-green laurel-leaf laurel-leaved laurel-like laurel-locked laurel-man

silkn.adj.

Compounds

silkv.