silvers

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of silver.

   The team finished the games with four golds and six silvers.

   Among her trophies sat three silvers from past tournaments.

   Note

   A plural that only the countable uses of silver can take. The metal itself and the shiny gray color have no plural, so silvers names separate things: silver medals (three silvers at the championships), coins, or individual pieces of silverware. When coins or tableware are meant as a mass, plain silver does the job, as in the family silver or a pocketful of silver. Silvers stresses the separate pieces.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of silver.

   The craftsman silvers each mirror with a thin reflective coating.

   Frost silvers the windowpanes every winter morning.

   Note

   The verb works in two patterns. With an object, it means coating, brightening or whitening something: a craftsman silvers glass, and age silvers a beard. Without an object, the subject changes color itself, as when hair silvers at the temples. The spelling is shared with the plural noun. In Olympic silvers it is a noun; in she silvers the frame it is a verb.

   His hair silvers early, as his father's did.

   As the moon rises, the lake slowly silvers.

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