floss Hear it!

floss definition

floss (flôs, fläs)

noun

  1. the rough silk covering a silkworm's cocoon
  2. the short, downy waste fibers of silk
  3. a soft, loosely twisted thread or yarn, as of silk (floss silk) or cotton, used in embroidery
    in full embroidery floss
  4. a soft, silky substance resembling floss, as in milkweed pods
  5. dental floss

Etymology: earlier also flosh < Fr floche, downy, woolly (in soie floche, floss silk), ult. < L floccus: see floccus

transitive verb, intransitive verb

to clean (the teeth) with dental floss

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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