silkweed

[ silk-weed ]

/ ˈsɪlkˌwid /

noun

any milkweed, the pods of which contain a silky down.

Nearby words

silkaline, silken, silkie, silko, silkscreen, silkweed, silkworm, silkworm moth, silky, silky anteater, silky cornel

Origin of silkweed

An Americanism dating back to 1775–85; silk + weed¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for silkweed

Their lines were made of the tough, fibrous, silken bark of the variety of milkweed or silkweed, already mentioned.
Indians of the Yosemite Valley and Vicinity|Galen Clark

British Dictionary definitions for silkweed

silkweed

/ (ˈsɪlkˌwiːd) /

noun

another name for milkweed (def. 1)

Word Origin for silkweed

C19: so called because the pods contain a silklike down

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