Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

corn silk

American  

noun

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


corn silk British  

noun

  1. 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

Etymology

Origin of corn silk

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

During a video interview last month from his home in Los Angeles, he gulped from a large glass of corn silk tea, intended to ease some prostate issues that he said might be stress-related.

From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 2023

It’s the color of her hair — soft and fine as corn silk.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2022

What superhero shoots corn silk from his wrists?

From Washington Post ● Nov. 27, 2019

McCarthy’s stylists get high marks for accuracy on cut and color—a sort of corn silk, “green yellow” in the Crayola lexicon.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 7, 2017

It was short, but super shiny, like dark corn silk.

From "Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World" by Ashley Herring Blake

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training