First recorded in 1665–70; named after Silesia
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Yes, I want some twilled silesia, a paper of number nine needles, and two yards of narrow lavender ribbon. Have you got your thick boots on, and something warm under your cloak?”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Yes; I want some twilled silesia, a paper of number nine needles, and two yards of narrow lavender ribbon.
From Little Women or Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Alcott, Louisa May
She sighed over the cheap jackets, with silesia linings and raveled buttonholes, which nameless copyists tried to make attractive by the clean embroidered linen collars which they themselves laundered in wash-bowls in the evening.
From The Job An American Novel by Lewis, Sinclair
Cloak Buttons In sewing buttons on a cloak or coat an extra strip of canvas or silesia over the canvas interlining should be placed the entire length of the buttoning for strength.
From Textiles and Clothing by Watson, Kate Heintz
He followed this up by hurling first a blanket, then an armful of silesia, then a window support out of the window into the shop.
From The History of Mr. Polly by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
It's a far cry from basin depths in Silesia -- a historic coal mining region in southern Poland where he still extracts the ore.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Soon after his father’s death in 1740, Frederick demonstrated his aptitude for warfare when he invaded and won the Austrian province of Silesia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
First published in 1998, this early gem from Nobel Prize winner Tokarczuk takes place in Silesia, a region of Poland close to the Czech Republic and influenced by its Bohemian culture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
The displaced Poles were in turn resettled in Silesia, a region on the border of Czechoslovakia that had formerly belonged to Germany.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
In October 1843, a young man from Silesia, the son of two peasants, joined the abbey.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
