different between silk vs clouding

English

Etymology

From Middle English silk, sylk, selk, selc, from Old English sioloc, seoloc, seolc (“silk”). The immediate source is uncertain; it probably reached English via the Baltic trade routes (cognates in Old Norse silki (> Danish silke, Swedish silke (“silk”)), Russian ???? (šolk), obsolete Lithuanian zilka?), all ultimately from Late Latin s?ricus, from Ancient Greek ??????? (s?rikós), ultimately from an Oriental language (represented now by e.g. Chinese ? (s?, “silk”)). Compare Seres. Doublet of seric.

Pronunciation

• enPR: s?lk, IPA^(key): /s?lk/
• Rhymes: -?lk

Noun

silk (countable and uncountable, plural silks)

1. (chiefly uncountable) A fine fiber excreted by the silkworm or other arthropod (such as a spider).

2. A fine, soft cloth woven from silk fibers.
3. Anything which resembles silk, such as the filiform styles of the female flower of maize, or the seed covering of bombaxes.
4. The gown worn by a Senior (i.e. Queen's/King's) Counsel.
5. (colloquial) A Senior (i.e. Queen's or King's) Counsel.
6. (circus arts, in the plural) A pair of long silk sheets suspended in the air on which a performer performs tricks.
7. (horse racing, usually in the plural) The garments worn by a jockey displaying the colors of the horse's owner.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

silk (third-person singular simple present silks, present participle silking, simple past and past participle silked)

1. (transitive) To remove the silk from (corn).
   • 2013, Lynetra T. Griffin, From Whence We Came (page 17)

     While we shucked and silked the corn, we talked, sang old nursery rhymes […]

See also

• sericin

Anagrams

• Kils, Lisk, ilks, skil

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kla?d??/
• Rhymes: -a?d??

Verb

clouding

1. present participle of cloud

Noun

clouding (plural cloudings)

1. A cloudy appearance.
2. A mottled appearance given to ribbons and silks in the process of dyeing.
3. A diversity of colours in yarn, recurring at regular intervals.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)