silk

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A fine lustrous fiber composed mainly of fibroin and produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons, especially the strong, elastic, fibrous secretion of silkworms used to make thread and fabric.
2. n. Thread or fabric made from this fiber.
3. n. A garment made from this fabric.
4. n. The brightly colored identifying garments of a jockey or harness driver.
5. n. A silky filamentous material, such as the webbing spun by certain spiders or the styles forming a tuft on an ear of corn.
6. adj. Composed of or similar to the fiber or the fabric silk.
7. v. To develop silk. Used of corn.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A fine soft thread produced chiefly by the larvæ of various bombycid moths, especially of Bombyx (Sericaria) mori, known as silkworms, feeding on the leaves of the mulberry and several other trees. (See Bombyx and silkworm, and compare gut, 4.) Silk is the strongest, roost lustrous, and most valuable of textile fibers. The thread is composed of several finer threads drawn by the worm from two large organs or glands containing a viscid substance, which extend, as in other cocoon-making caterpillars, along a great part of the body and terminate in two spinnerets at the mouth. With this substance the silkworm envelops itself, forming its cocoon. Raw silk is produced by the operation of winding off at the same time several of these cocoons, after they have been immersed in hot water to soften the natural gum on the filament, on a common reel, thereby forming one smooth, even thread. Before it is fit for weaving it is converted into one of three forms, namely singles, tram, or organzine. Singles (a collective noun) is formed of one of the reeled threads, twisted in order to give it strength and firmness. Tram is formed of two or more threads twisted together, and is commonly used in weaving as the shoot or weft. (For organzine, see thrown silk, below.) Silk of various qualities (but none fully equal to the preceding) is produced by different genera of the family Saturniidæ, particularly the tusser-worm of India, Attacus mylitta, the yama-mai of Japan, Antheræa yama-mai, etc., feeding on the oak and other plants.
2. n. A similar thread or fiber spun by various other insects, especially some spiders; a kind of cobweb or gossamer. Some such webs are lustrous, and may be reeled like true silk. See Nephila, and cut under silk-spider.
3. n. Cloth made of silk; by extension, a garment made of such cloth. In this sense the word has a plural, silks, denoting different sorts or varieties: as, black silk; white silk; colored silks.
4. n. The mass of long filiform styles of the female flower of maize: so called from their resemblance in the unripe state to silk in fineness and softness.
5. n. The silky down in the pod of the milkweed (hence also called silk-weed).
6. n. The silkiness or silky luster often observed in the sapphire or ruby, due to the inclusion of microscopic crystals between the crystalline layers of the gem. The silk is visible only on what would be the pyramid faces of the crystals.
7. Made of silk; silken: as, a silk dress; silk stockings.
8. Silk-like; silky.
9. A king's or queen's counsel.
10. To be in course of earing: said of growing Indian corn.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable A fine fiber excreted by the silkworm or other arthropod (such as a spider).
2. n. uncountable A fine, soft cloth woven from silk fibers.
3. n. The gown worn by a Senior (i.e. Queen's/King's) Counsel
4. n. colloquial a Senior (i.e. Queen's/King's) Counsel
5. adj. Made of silk

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The fine, soft thread produced by various species of caterpillars in forming the cocoons within which the worm is inclosed during the pupa state, especially that produced by the larvæ of Bombyx mori.
2. n. Hence, thread spun, or cloth woven, from the above-named material.
3. n. That which resembles silk, as the filiform styles of the female flower of maize.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a fabric made from the fine threads produced by certain insect larvae
2. n. animal fibers produced by silkworms and other larvae that spin cocoons and by most spiders