wild silk

American  

noun

1. tussah.

2. British. raw silk.

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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

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Etymology

Origin of wild silk

An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800

Example Sentences

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

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

Advertisements sometimes give notice of amazing sales of "Shantung pongee," which has been made in American looms and is a very different article from the imported "wild silk" pongee.

From Makers of Many Things by Tappan, Eva March

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

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 Redway, Jacques W. (Jacques Wardlaw)

Richard places the export of raw wild silk from the whole of China proper, in 1904, at 4,400,000 pounds.

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