velvet

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A soft fabric, such as silk, rayon, or nylon, having a smooth, dense pile and a plain underside.
2. n. Something suggesting the smooth surface of velvet.
3. n. Smoothness; softness.
4. n. The soft, furry covering on the developing antlers of deer.
5. n. Informal The winnings of a gambler.
6. n. Informal A profit or gain beyond what is expected or due.
7. n. New England See milk shake. See Regional Note at milk shake.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A closely woven silk stuff having a very thick and short pile on one side, which is formed by carrying part of the warp-thread over a needle, and cutting the loops afterward. Inferior kinds are made with a cotton back (see velveret), and are commonly called cotton-backed velvets. Cotton velvets are also made. (See cotton, and also velveteen.) These imitations and inferior qualities are so common that real velvet is commonly called silk velvet or Lyons velvet to distinguish it from them.
2. n. The covering of a growing antler, consisting of the modified periosteum peculiar to antlers, with cuticle and fur. It bears the same relation to the nutrition of the antler that periosteum does to that of bone. Its sloughing or exuviation follows the constriction and final obliteration of its vessels—a process which is accomplished or favored by the growth of the bur about the base of the antler, which cuts off or obstructs the circulation of blood. The antler subsequently receives no nourishment, and is itself shortly afterward exuviated or cast as a foreign body.
3. n. Money gained through gambling: as, to play on velvet (that is, to gamble with money previously won). [Slang.]
4. Made of velvet.
5. Soft and smooth to the touch; resembling velvet in this respect.
6. Very soft and smooth to the taste: as, old velvet Bourbon.
7. To produce velvet-painting.
8. To cover with velvet; cause to resemble velvet.

Wiktionary

1. n. A closely woven fabric (originally of silk, now also of cotton or man-made fibres) with a thick short pile on one side.
2. n. Very fine fur, including the skin and fur on a deer's antlers.
3. v. cooking To coat raw meat in starch, then in oil, preparatory to frying

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A silk fabric, having a short, close nap of erect threads. Inferior qualities are made with a silk pile on a cotton or linen back, or with other soft fibers such as nylon, acetate, or rayon.
2. n. The soft and highly vascular deciduous skin which envelops and nourishes the antlers of deer during their rapid growth.
3. n. Something likened to velvet{1} in being soft or luxurious.
4. adj. Made of velvet; soft and delicate, like velvet; velvety.
5. v. rare To pain velvet.
6. v. rare To make like, or cover with, velvet.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. resembling velvet in having a smooth soft surface
2. n. a silky densely piled fabric with a plain back
3. adj. smooth and soft to sight or hearing or touch or taste