kapok

[ key-pok ]

/ ˈkeɪ pɒk /

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noun

the silky down that invests the seeds of a silk-cotton tree (kapoktree ),Ceiba pentandra, of the East Indies, Africa, and tropical America: used for stuffing pillows, life jackets, etc., and for acoustical insulation.

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Also called Java cotton.

Origin of kapok

1740–50; <Javanese (or Malay of Java and Sumatra) kapuk the name of the tree

Words nearby kapok

Kapil Dev, Kapitsa, Kapitza, Kaplan, Kapo, kapok, kapok oil, Kaposi's sarcoma, kapote, kappa, kapparah

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use kapok in a sentence

The silk cotton or kapok (bombax) is also to be met with in every village.
The History of Sumatra|William Marsden
The Kapok plant furnishes most of the commercial silk cotton on the market.
Textiles|William H. Dooley
Even prettier and more wonderfully made is the nest of the kapok bird, a little creature resembling a tom-tit.
Home Life on an Ostrich Farm|Annie Martin
The material used in the construction of this small domicile is a kind of wild cotton, well named by the Boers kapok (snow).
Home Life on an Ostrich Farm|Annie Martin

The cotton or kapok was used directly, but the burlap was shredded into a fine mass of fluffy fibers.
Comparative Ecology of Pinyon Mice and Deer Mice in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado|Charles L. Douglas

British Dictionary definitions for kapok

kapok

/ (ˈkeɪpɒk) /

noun

a silky fibre obtained from the hairs covering the seeds of a tropical bombacaceous tree, Ceiba pentandra (kapok tree or silk-cotton tree): used for stuffing pillows, etc, and for sound insulationAlso called: silk cotton

Word Origin for kapok

C18: from Malay

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