silk

SILK/sɪlk/

8 meanings of silk

1
nouncountable or uncountable
A soft, smooth cloth made from threads spun by silkworms.
Like a very thin, smooth cloth that slides easily through your fingers.
Her scarf was made of pure silk.
The dress felt cool against her skin because it was woven from silk.
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2
noununcountable
A thin, strong thread made by silkworms and spiders.
Like a very thin thread that an animal makes from its own body.
A spider spins silk to build its web.
The cocoon is made from silk that the worm produces.
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3
nouncountable or uncountable
Something that looks or feels like silk, such as the fine threads on an ear of corn.
Like the fine threads on corn that look just like cloth fibers.
She pulled the sticky silk off the corn before cooking it.
The pods burst open, releasing soft silk around the seeds.
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4
nouncountable or uncountable
The bright shirt and cap a jockey wears to show which owner's horse they ride.
Like a team uniform, but it shows which owner a horse belongs to instead of a team.
The jockey wore the stable's famous green-and-gold silks.
Before each race, riders change into the silk colors of the owner they represent.
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5
nouncountable or uncountableplural
A pair of long cloth sheets that hang from above, used by a performer to do tricks in the air.
Like long curtains hanging from the ceiling that a performer climbs like a rope.
The acrobat climbed high on the silks and spun upside down.
Her silk routine ended with a fast drop toward the floor.
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6
nouncolloquialcountable or uncountable
In Britain, a senior, top-ranking lawyer who argues cases in court.
Like a top surgeon who only takes the hardest cases, but in the world of law.
She became a silk after twenty years arguing cases in court.
The defense hired a famous silk to lead the appeal.
7
nouncountable or uncountable
The special gown worn by a top-ranking lawyer in court.
Like a special robe that shows a lawyer has reached a high rank.
He hung his silk carefully after the long trial.
She wore her silk for the first time at the senior counsel ceremony.
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8
verbtransitive
To pull the soft threads off an ear of corn.
Like peeling the stringy bits off a banana before you eat it.
Please silk the corn before you put it in the pot.
The children helped silk a dozen ears for the barbecue.
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Practice

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Origin

From Middle English silk, sylk, selk, selc, from Old English sioloc, seoloc, seolc (“silk”). The immediate source is uncertain; it probably reached English via the Baltic trade routes (cognates in Old Norse silki (> Danish silke, Swedish silke (“silk”)), Russian шёлк (šolk), obsolete Lithuanian zilkai̇̃), all ultimately from Late Latin sēricus, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós), ultimately from an Oriental language (represented now by e.g. Chinese 絲 /丝 (sī, “silk”)). Compare Seres. Doublet of seric and serge.