silk-cotton tree

American  

[silk-kot-n] / ˈsɪlkˌkɒt n /

noun

1. any of several spiny trees belonging to the genus Ceiba, of the bombax family, having palmately compound leaves and seeds surrounded by silk cotton, especially C. pentandra, from which kapok is obtained.

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silk-cotton tree British  

noun

1. Also called: kapok tree.  any of several tropical bombacaceous trees of the genus Ceiba, esp Ceiba pentandra, having seeds covered with silky hairs from which kapok is obtained

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Etymology

Origin of silk-cotton tree

First recorded in 1705–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

silk-cotton tree

The filling is kapok, a soft fiber that comes from a silk-cotton tree.

From Time Magazine Archive

They feed on the nectar provided by these flowers and those of the silk-cotton tree.

From A Bird Calendar for Northern India by Dewar, Douglas

Rectus and Corny and Mrs. Chipperton were up in the silk-cotton tree when I got home, and I went there and sat down.

From A Jolly Fellowship by Stockton, Frank Richard

That night, as we sat under a large silk-cotton tree silently eating supper off plates of palm leaves, the old chief suddenly threw down his meat, and, with a startled expression, said, "I hear spirits!"

From Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South America by Ray, G. Whitfield

A nest on the 17th August, 1880, on the outside branch of a silk-cotton tree in Belgaum about 12 feet from the ground, containing three fresh eggs.

From The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 by Hume, Allan Octavian