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That which resembles silk, as the filiform styles of the female flower of maize. Raw silk, silk as it is wound off from the cocoons, and before it is manufactured. -- Silk cotton, a cottony substance enveloping the seeds of the silk-cotton tree. -- Silk-cotton tree (Bot.), a name for several tropical trees of the gen…

Wearing silk stockings (which among men were formerly worn chiefly by the luxurious or aristocratic); hence, elegantly dressed; aristocratic; luxurious; -- chiefly applied to men, often by way of reproach.

Of or pertaining to silk; made of, or resembling, silk; as, silken cloth; a silken veil.

The quality or state of being silky or silken; softness and smoothness.

A dealer in silks; a silk mercer. Shak.

Silkiness. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Any plant of the genera Asclepias and Acerates whose seed vessels contain a long, silky down; milkweed.

va of any one of numerous species of bombycid moths, which spins a large amount of strong silk in constructing its cocoon before changing to a pupa.

Of or pertaining to silk; made of, or resembling, silk; silken; silklike; as, a silky luster.

A filamentous fresh-water alga (Conferva rivularis of Linnaeus, Rhizoclonium rivulare of Kutzing).

See Floss silk, under Floss.

A silk cloth made from the cocoons of a caterpillar other than the common silkworm, much used in Bengal and China.

A thin, black silk for hoods, scarfs, etc.; -- often called simply mode. Buchanan.

A thin kind of cloth made of the wooly hair of the alpaca, often mixed with silk or with cotton.

Earth flax, or mountain flax; a soft silky variety of asbestus.

a goat, a cat, etc. Angora cat (Zoöl.), a variety of the domestic cat with very long and silky hair, generally of the brownish white color. Called also Angola cat. See Cat. -- Angora goat (Zoöl.), a variety of the domestic goat, reared for its long silky hair, which is highly prized for manufacture.…

A very fine sort of Persian silk.

A thick plain silk, generally black, and used for clerical. Simmonds.

A material of wool or silk used for working the figures in embroidery.

A sort of silken purse formerly tied about men's hair behind, by way of ornament. [Obs.]