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silk Definition

silk (silk)

noun

  1. the fine, soft, shiny fiber produced by silkworms to form their cocoons
  2. thread or fabric made from this fiber
    1. a garment or other article made of this fabric
    2. a distinctive silk uniform, as of a jockey
    3. the silk gown worn by a king's (or queen's) counsel in British law courts
  4. any silklike filament or substance, as that produced by spiders, or that within a milkweed pod, on the end of an ear of corn, etc.

Etymology: ME silke < OE seoluc, prob. via Slav (as in OPrus silkas) < ? L sericus (or Gr sērikos), silken: see serge

adjective

of or like silk; silken

intransitive verb

to develop silk: said of Indian corn

silk Idioms

hit the silk

Slang to parachute from an aircraft

silk Synonyms

silk

n.

Varieties of silks include: taffeta, moiré, watered silk, jacquard, damask, crepe, satin crepe, satin de Lyon, satin, rajah, pongee, China silk, tissue, voile, tulle, sarcenet, faille, marabou, mousseline de soie, shantung, tussah, matelassé, surah, twilled lining, crepe de Chine, georgette, chiffon, tapestry, upholstery, velvet, chiffon velvet, plush, ribbons, tie silk, silk shirting;

silk Usage Examples

Possessives

  • spider: Researchers have now found that in turbulent air the spiders ' silk molds to the eddies of the airflow to carry them further.

Converse of object

  • embroider: These include specially embroidered silk and organza bags, seashell placecard holders, and porcelain truffle favor boxes.
  • weave: The album contains 97 designs for woven silk, painted in watercolor.

Adjective modifier

  • viscid: Viscid silk also needs to absorb the kinetic energy of the fly, corresponding to a high value.
  • damask: He wore a formal gown of blue and gold damask silk and a Tudor-style academic bonnet in gold silk.
  • luxurious: The luxurious soft silk of this cami is trimmed with delicate lace.
  • painted: In fact, I made a beautiful green glass and silver necklace, pictured below on a piece of painted silk.
  • raw: The quantity of raw silk raised in the last season was very little more than was raised in the previous year.
  • pure: I paint on to pure silk in my studio on the slopes of Glastonbury Tor.

Modifies a noun

  • scarves: The designs of her batik silk scarves suggest images of landscape, plant or sea patterns.
  • handkerchief: I had a small silk handkerchief tied round my throat; I had my gloves.
  • scarf: Did you ever touch a real silk scarf from Africa I bought at a coffee morning?
  • weaver: The plight of the silk weavers in Spitalfields played a part in London Chartism.
  • stocking: One little boy in my class used to enjoy stroking my leg, liking the feel of silk stockings!
  • purse: You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.. .

Noun used with modifier

  • shantung: The fabric choices for shades are much more decorative and refined, such as shantung silks and crinkled, oiled papers.
  • spider: Some spiders may consume it, for the protein in spider silk is not to be wasted.
  • parachute: These included long johns ' , French knickers, and even a piece of parachute silk.
  • filament: These four are the first in a collection of fourteen - made of filament silk, they're surprisingly strong.
  • vinyl: It had gypsum plaster and Artex applied to the walls with a shiny vinyl silk emulsion over the top.
silk Quotes

Just as my fingers on these keys Make music, so the self-same sounds On my spirit make a music, too. Music is feeling, then, not a sound; And thus it is that what I feel, Here in this room, desiring you, Thinking of your blue-shadowed silk, Is music.

—Stevens,Wallace

There was a girl in our town, Silk an'satin was her gown, Silk an'satin, gold an' velvet, Guess her name, three times I've telled it.

—Anonymous

The poet makes silk dresses out of worms.

—Stevens,Wallace

Queen Elizabeth owned silk stockings. The capitalist achievement does not typically consist in providing more silk stockings for queens but in bringing them within the reach of factory girls in return for steadily decreasing amount of effort.

—Schumpeter,Joseph Alois

A silk suit, which cost memuchmoney, and Ipray God to make me able to pay for it.

—Pepys, Samuel

Le style, comme la popeline, dissimule trop souvent de l'ecze¤  ma. Style, like sheer silk, too often hides eczema.

—Camus, Albert

Our style should be as a skein of silk, to be carried and found by the right thread, not ravelled and perplexed; then all is a knot, a heap.

—Jonson, Ben

Let Sporus trembleö'What? that thing of silk, Sporus, that mere white curd of ass's milk? Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel? Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?

—Pope, Alexander