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

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

Silken; made of silk. [Obs.] Coles.

d; to surrender. "We need not fear his coming in" Massinger. (e) To be brought into use. "Silken garments did not come in till late." Arbuthnot. (f) To be added or inserted; to be or become a part of. (g) To accrue as gain from any business or investment. (h) To mature and yield a harvest; as, the crops come in well. (…

ove. -- French purple, a dyestuff obtained from lichens and used for coloring woolen and silken fabrics, without the aid of mordants. Ure. -- French red rouge. -- French rice, amelcorn. -- French roof (Arch.), a modified form of mansard roof having a nearly flat deck for the upper slope. -- French tub, a dyer's mi…

d produce; to concoct; as, to hatch mischief; to hatch heresy. Hooker. Fancies hatched In silken-folded idleness. Tennyson.

le; as, a field impurpled with blood. Impurpled with celestial roses, smiled. Milton. The silken fleece impurpled for the loom. Pope.

A primitive Chinese instrument of the cittern kind, with from five to twenty-five silken strings. Riemann.

on from a machine for producing a special article as in manufacturing. -- Machine twist, silken thread especially adapted for use in a sewing machine. -- Machine work, work done by a machine, in contradistinction to that done by hand labor.

To take heed; to care. [Obs.] As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not. Shak.

n the sassafras, wild cherry, and other trees, and suspends its cocoon from a branch by a silken band.

A species of silk stuff, or taffeta, generally interwoven with gold. Tennyson. In silken samite she was light arrayed. Spenser.

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

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

To make a sharp noise by striking; to crack; as, to smack a whip. "She smacks the silken thong." Young.

The silken web which is formed by most kinds of spiders, particularly the web spun to entrap their prey. See Geometric spider, Triangle spider, under Geometric, and Triangle.

cord, 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.

l.), any one of several species of gregarious caterpillars which construct on trees large silken webs into which they retreat when at rest. Some of the species are very destructive to fruit trees. The most common American species is the larva of a bombycid moth (Clisiocampa Americana). Called also lackery caterpillar,…

(Zoöl.), a pyralid moth (Galleria cereana) whose larvæ feed upon honeycomb, and construct silken galleries among the fragments. The moth has dusky gray wings streaked with brown near the outer edge. The larva is yellowish white with brownish dots. Called also bee moth. -- Wax myrtle. (Bot.) See Bayberry. -- Wax paint…

d; to encircle; to infold. Each wreathed in the other's arms. Shak. Dusk faces with withe silken turbants wreathed. Milton. And with thy winding ivy wreathes her lance. Dryden.