SILK

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fabric made from the fine threads produced by certain insect larvae

Classified under:

Hypernyms ("silk" is a kind of...):

cloth; fabric; material; textile (artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "silk"):

sarcenet; sarsenet (a fine soft silk fabric often used for linings)

Derivation:

silky (having a smooth, gleaming surface reflecting light)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Animal fibers produced by silkworms and other larvae that spin cocoons and by most spiders

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("silk" is a kind of...):

animal fiber; animal fibre (fiber derived from animals)

Credits

Context examples:

A worked antimacassar lay upon her lap and a basket of coloured silks stood upon a stool beside her.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then I lashed the tiller and went below to my own chest, where I got a soft silk handkerchief of my mother's.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The queen likewise ordered the thinnest silks that could be gotten, to make me clothes, not much thicker than an English blanket, very cumbersome till I was accustomed to them.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

"An' I don't give a rap. I'm too damned glad to see 'm back. Watch 'm waltz, eh? It's like silk. Who'd blame any girl?"

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

His black breeches and silk stockings ended in very small pointed shoes, so highly polished that they twinkled with every movement.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His furry coat shone with the sheen of silk.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

They laced the hydrogel with hydrating silk proteins that promote healing and regeneration, then added progesterone.

(Scientists Help Frogs to Regenerate Their Limbs with Bioreactor Device, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Then her friend the bird flew out of the tree, and brought a gold and silver dress for her, and slippers of spangled silk; and she put them on, and followed her sisters to the feast.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The key to generating the brain-like tissue was the creation of a novel composite structure that consisted of two biomaterials with different physical properties: a spongy scaffold made out of silk protein and a softer, collagen-based gel.

(Bioengineers create functional 3D brain-like tissue, NIH)

This versatility is obvious in biological materials like muscle and silk fibers, which are made of proteins that combine ordered and disordered regions, enabling the materials to exhibit characteristics like elasticity of rubber and the mechanical strength of steel.