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definitions

corn silk

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noun

the long, threadlike, silky styles on an ear of corn.

Origin of corn silk

First recorded in 1850–55
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for corn silk

Historical Examples of corn silk

  • Ah, Sor Conte, she had blue eyes, and her hair was like the corn-silk.

    A Roman Singer

    F. Marion Crawford

  • Can you put the corn-silk back on the corn, or the down on the catkins—say?

    Our Boys

    Various

  • The week before he was trying to blow bubbles with it, only he had corn-silk in it then instead of soapsuds.

    Mollie and the Unwiseman

    John Kendrick Bangs

  • Her hair, bleached the color of corn-silk, fell over her face in elfin wildness.

    The Valiants of Virginia

    Hallie Erminie Rives

  • The pollen-tube must penetrate the whole length of each thread of corn-silk in order to reach the ovules.

British Dictionary definitions for corn silk

corn silk

noun

US and Canadian the silky tuft of styles and stigmas at the tip of an ear of maize, formerly used as a diuretic
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012