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wild silk

American  

noun

  1. tussah.

  2. British. raw silk.


wild silk British  

noun

  1. silk produced by wild silkworms

  2. a fabric made from this, or from short fibres of silk designed to imitate it

"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 wild silk

An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800


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:

Behind them the river pulsed through the darkness, shimmering like wild silk.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

Cotton is also grown extensively and forms the principal article of export, and a considerable quantity of wild silk is produced from the Fu-niu Shan.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 6 "Home, Daniel" to "Hortensius, Quintus" by Various

The leaves are large oval ones, each about 7 inches in length; they have been sewn together with wild silk carefully knotted, exactly as is the practice of the common Tailor-bird.

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

Silk cultivation and manufacture have been growing rapidly in the past few years; a considerable part of the product is "tussar," or wild silk.

From Commercial Geography A Book for High Schools, Commercial Courses, and Business Colleges by Jacques W. (Jacques Wardlaw) Redway

M. Randot has estimated the annual crop of wild silk cocoons in Szechwan at 10,180,000 pounds, although in the opinion of Alexander Hosie much of this may come from Kweichow.

From Farmers of Forty Centuries; Or, Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan by F. H. (Franklin Hiram) King

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