Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Made of silk.
  • adjective Smooth and lustrous like silk.
  • adjective Delicately pleasing or soothing.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of, pertaining to, or consisting of silk.
  • Like silk; soft or lustrous; hence, delicate; tender; smooth.
  • Dressed in silk; hence, luxurious.
  • To make silky or like silk; render soft or lustrous.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To render silken or silklike.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to silk; made of, or resembling, silk.
  • adjective Fig.: Soft; delicate; tender; smooth.
  • adjective Dressed in silk.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Made of silk.
  • adjective Having a smooth, soft, or light texture, like that of silk; suggestive of silk.
  • adjective figuratively, of speech, singing, etc. Smoothly uttered; flowing, subtle, or convincing in presentation.
  • verb transitive To render silken or silklike.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having a smooth, gleaming surface reflecting light

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English silken, from Old English seolcen ("made of silk, silken"), equivalent to silk +‎ -en.

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Examples

  • She wrapped her tree in silken lies, spun promise-dreams of innocence, beguiling the fetid flies that were the souls of her progeny generations upon generations gone.

    DREAMING LIES TO CHANGE THE TRUTH • by Kaolin Fire 2008

  • If I when my wife is sleeping and the baby and Kathleen are sleeping and the sun is a flame-white disc in silken mists above shining trees, -- if I in my north room dance naked, grotesquely before my mirror waving my shirt round my head and singing softly to myself

    Angst Envy 2007

  • If I when my wife is sleeping and the baby and Kathleen are sleeping and the sun is a flame-white disc in silken mists above shining trees, -- if I in my north room dance naked, grotesquely before my mirror waving my shirt round my head and singing softly to myself

    January 2007 2007

  • Sahim in silken robes of honour gold inwoven and set on

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Truth, and they sought for it with such instance, and they so highly valued it that the high priests of the Greeks used to send it to all the countries of the Christians in silken wraps after mixing it with musk and ambergris.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • He was beginning to be a very pretty baby; his golden hair curled in silken ringlets all over his little round head and his eyes were beautiful.

    Rilla of Ingleside Lucy Maud 1921

  • Their petals fell in silken heaps along the old paths or clung to the lush grasses among which Eric lay and dreamed, while Kilmeny played to him on her violin.

    Kilmeny of the Orchard Lucy Maud 1910

  • Garbed was she in silken raiment of tenderest green, wrought upon with some quaint workmanship of gold and silver.

    Love and Life Behind the Purdah 1901

  • The ripples of their hair, drawn back from the broad brown brows and knotted in silken abundance at the nape, glitter like polished jet, and the fine, haughty, dark features lit with little points of gold – tiny studs set in the high nostrils and the upper rims of the little ears.

    In Seven Stages: A Flying Trip Around the World 1891

  • Close to the strong stem, dangled oranges and rosy-cheeked apples; the sugar-plums were contained in silken bags, made in the shape of flour-sacks, and tied at the neck with a gilt string.

    A Christmas Cake in Four Quarters Mary Anne 1871

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  • Used for 31 MAR 11

    April 1, 2011