different between gossamer vs cobwebby

English

Etymology

From Middle English gossomer, gosesomer, gossummer (attested since around 1300, and only in reference to webs or other light things), usually thought to derive from gos (“goose”) + somer (“summer”) and to have initially referred to a period of warm weather in late autumn when geese were eaten — compare Middle Scots goesomer, goe-summer (“summery weather in late autumn; St Martin's summer”) (later connected in folk-etymology to go) — and to have been transferred to cobwebs because they were frequent then or because they were likened to goose-down. Skeat says that in Craven the webs were called summer-goose, and compares Scots and dialectal English use of summer-colt in reference to "exhalations seen rising from the ground in hot weather". Weekley notes that both the webs and the weather have fantastical names in most European languages: compare German Altweibersommer (“Indian summer; cobwebs, gossamer”, literally “old wives' summer”) and other terms listed there.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???.s?.m?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???.s?.m?/

Noun

gossamer (countable and uncountable, plural gossamers)

1. A fine film or strand as of cobwebs, floating in the air or caught on bushes, etc.
2. A soft, sheer fabric.
3. Anything delicate, light and flimsy.

Derived terms

• gossamery (adjective)
• gossamer-thin (adjective)

Translations

Adjective

gossamer (comparative more gossamer, superlative most gossamer)

1. Tenuous, light, filmy or delicate.
   • 1857, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Daisy's Necklace: And What Came of It

     The heaven was spangled with tremulous stars, and at the horizon the clouds hung down in gossamer folds—God's robe trailing in the sea!

Synonyms

• gossamery
• gossamer-thin

Translations

References

English

Etymology

cobweb +? -y

Adjective

cobwebby (comparative cobwebbier, superlative cobwebbiest)

1. Having many cobwebs.
2. Resembling a cobweb or cobwebs.
3. (figuratively) Old or dated.

Synonyms

• (having many cobwebs): cobwebbed
• (resembling a cobweb): spider-webby
• (old, dated): aged, cobwebbed, hoary; see also Thesaurus:old or Thesaurus:obsolete