different between groundless vs gossamer

English

Etymology

From Middle English groundles, from Old English grundl?as, from Proto-Germanic *grundulausaz, equivalent to ground +? -less. Cognate with Dutch grondeloos, German Low German grundlos, German grundlos, Danish grundløs, Swedish grundlös.

Pronunciation

Adjective

groundless (comparative more groundless, superlative most groundless)

1. Without any grounds to support it; baseless.
   • 2013, Delme Parfitt in Wales Online, Cardiff City 1 - 0 Swansea City: Steven Caulker heads Bluebirds to South Wales derby win (3 November 2013)

     At that stage any fears among home fans of a possession monopoly by Laudrup's side were proving groundless, with Cardiff having their fair share of the ball and territory.

Derived terms

• groundlessly
• groundlessness

Translations

Anagrams

• groundsels

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