silk

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“
After looking steadily on about an inch square of pink silk, placed on white paper, in a bright sunshine, at the distance of a foot from my eyes, and closing and covering my eyelids, the spectrum of the silk was at first a dark green, and the spectrum of the white paper became of a pink.

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Definitions (65)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. noun 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. noun Thread or fabric made from this fiber.
  3. noun A garment made from this fabric.
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Examples

  • After looking steadily on about an inch square of pink silk, placed on white paper, in a bright sunshine, at the distance of a foot from my eyes, and closing and covering my eyelids, the spectrum of the silk was at first a dark green, and the spectrum of the white paper became of a pink. —  Zoonomia, Vol. I Or, the Laws of Organic Life
  • She had put on a loose gown of a thin Japanese silk -- dull red in hue, a relic of other days. —  Mrs. Red Pepper
  • She wore on that night a dress of tea-color embroidered with tiny bouquets in Chinese silk, and trimmed below with an immense flounce of plaited muslin. —  The Clique of Gold
  • As this has always been the case, I have concluded that the evolution of the silk is almost entirely a mechanical process, which is but little controlled by the spinners themselves, and that the gum requires some degree of preparation after it is secreted before it is fit for use as silk; for it must be remembered that with the spider, as with the silk-worm, the silk is formed and contained in little bags or glands in the abdomen, not as _threads_, but as a very viscid gum. —  The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 106, August, 1866
  • After looking steadily on about an inch square of pink silk, placed on white paper, in a bright sunshine, at the distance of a foot from my eyes, and closing and covering my eyelids, the spectrum of the silk was at first —  Zoonomia, Vol. I Or, the Laws of Organic Life
 

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Silk has been looked up 226 times, favorited 0 times, listed 39 times, and commented on 4 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English sioloc, probably of Slavic origin (akin to Old Church Slavonic šelkŭ), ultimately from Greek sērikon, neuter of sērikos, silken; see serge1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English silk, sylk, selk, selc, seolk, from Anglo-Saxon seolc, seoloc, sioloc, sioluc (in comp.) (for *silc, like meolc, milk, for *milc) =Icelandic silki =Swedish Danish silke, silk; cf. Russian shelku =White Russian and Little Russian sholk =Old Prussian silkas, silk, =Lithuanian shilkai, shilkos, silk, silkas, silk threads, =Hungarian selyem, silk, all prob. from Scandinavian; Old High German silecho, selecho, selacho, a robe (from Slav.?) (cf. English serge, from French serge =Provencal serga, sirgua =Spanish sarga =Portuguese sarja =Italian sargia, serge, silken stuff, =Irish siric, silken, from Latin serica, feminine); from Latin sericum, silk, plural serica, silken garments, silks, literally Seric stuff, neuter of Sericus, from Greek Σηρικός, pertaining to the Seres, Seric, from Greek Σῆρες, Latin Seres, a people of eastern Asia celebrated for their silks: see Seric. The Chinese name for silk is szĕ, szŭ, sz', with variants sei, si, whence Corean sa, sil, sir, Mongol sereg, silk, from se (from Chinese szĕ, sei) + -reg, a suffix of Tatar languages. The Chinese word is prob. not connected with the European, except that the Greek Σῆρες may mean the Chinese, and be based on the Chinese name for silk. For the more common Teutonic word for ‘silk,’ see say.
 

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/sɪlk/
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