Search the Dictionary

To form (a web, a cocoon, silk, or the like) from threads produced by the extrusion of a viscid, transparent liquid, which hardens on coming into contact with the air; -- said of the spider, the silkworm, etc.

Most spiders have three pairs of spinnerets, but some have only two pairs. The ordinary silk line of the spider is composed of numerous smaller lines jointed after issuing from the spinnerets.

Spin. Spinning gland (Zoöl.), one of the glands which form the material for spinning the silk of silkworms and other larvæ. -- Spinning house, formerly a common name for a house of correction in England, the women confined therein being employed in spinning. -- Spinning jenny (Mach.), an engine or machine for spinnin…

A breed of dogs having erect ears and long silky hair, usually white; -- called also Pomeranian dog, and louploup.

y, hay twisted into ropes for convenient carriage, as on a military expedition. -- Spun silk, a cheap article produced from floss, or short-fibered, broken, and waste silk, carded and spun, in distinction from the long filaments wound from the cocoon. It is often mixed with cotton. -- Spun yarn (Naut.), a line formed…

A workman employed in silk throwing.

An extensive and curious genus of African plants of the natural order Asclepiadaceæ (Milkweed family). They are succulent plants without leaves, frequently covered with dark tubercles giving them a very grotesque appearance. The odor of the blossoms is like that of carrion.

A peculiarly flavored unpressed cheese made from milk with cream added; -- so called from the village or parish of Stilton, England, where it was originally made. It is very rich in fat.

A kind of stiff, wide band or cravat for the neck; as, a silk stock.

A narrow band of silk or stuff, sometimes enriched with embroidery and jewels, worn on the left shoulder of deacons, and across both shoulders of bishops and priests, pendent on each side nearly to the ground. At Mass, it is worn crossed on the breast by priests. It is used in various sacred functions. Groom of the sto…

ak. It is storied of the brazen colossus in Rhodes, that it was seventy cubits high. Bp. Wilkins.

-- used to connect a portable stove with a chimney flue. Stovepipe hat, the common tall silk hat. [Slang, U.S.]

fy, or separate from extraneous or solid matter, by filtration; to filter; as, to strain milk through cloth. To strain a point, to make a special effort; especially, to do a degree of violence to some principle or to one's own feelings. -- To strain courtesy, to go beyond what courtesy requires; to insist somewhat too…

ord, larger than a thread and smaller than a rope; as, a shoe string; a bonnet string; a silken string. Shak. Round Ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string. Prior.

To deprive of all milk; to milk dry; to draw the last milk from; hence, to milk with a peculiar movement of the hand on the teats at the last of a milking; as, to strip a cow.

The last milk drawn from a cow at a milking.

s, worsted fiber. What stuff wilt have a kirtle of Shak. It [the arras] was of stuff and silk mixed, though, superior kinds were of silk exclusively. F. G. Lee.

Containing one part of eight; having the ratio of one to eight. Bp. Wilkins.

ntaining one part of four; in the ratio of one to four; as, subquadruple proportion. Bp. Wilkins.

Having the ratio of one to five; as, subquintuple proportion. Bp. Wilkins.