silk
- 01 B1 Intermediate
a delicate, soft, and expensive cloth made from the threads of a silkworm.
a fine, lustrous fibre produced by silkworms, or the textile woven from these threads. Uncountable when referring to the material; countable when referring to specific types or garments.
Simple“She wore a beautiful dress made of green silk to the wedding.”
In context“The merchant specialised in importing raw silk from East Asia, which was then processed into high-end garments for the European market.”
- 02 C1 Advanced
a high-ranking lawyer in the UK and some other countries.
a Senior Counsel or King's Counsel, so named because of the silk gown they are entitled to wear in court.
Simple“After twenty years of successful cases, she was finally appointed as a silk.”
In context“The defendant's family decided to hire a leading silk to lead the defence team during the high-profile fraud trial.”
Synonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
the colourful shirts worn by people who ride horses in races.
the colourful garments worn by a jockey, typically displaying the specific colours and patterns of the horse's owner.
Simple“The jockey changed into the owner's blue and white silks before the race.”
In context“As the horses rounded the final bend, the owner's distinctive red and gold silks were clearly visible at the front of the pack.”
- 04 C2 Proficiency
long pieces of fabric hanging from the ceiling that performers use to do acrobatics.
a type of aerial apparatus consisting of two long strips of fabric suspended from a single point, used for acrobatic tricks.
Simple“She practiced her routine on the silks for hours to get the drop right.”
In context“The circus performer demonstrated incredible core strength while wrapping herself in the silks high above the stage.”
Synonymsaerial silkribbons
“The yellow silk Carolina Herrera dress Hudson wore near the end of the film also became a much talked-about piece of modern cinema fashion.”
From Middle English silk, sylk, selk, selc, from Old English sioloc, seoloc, seolc (“silk”). The immediate source is uncertain; it probably reached English via the Baltic trade routes (cognates in Old Norse silki (> Danish silke, Swedish silke (“silk”)), Russian шёлк (šolk), obsolete Lithuanian zilkai̇̃), all ultimately from Late Latin sēricus, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós), ultimately from an Oriental language (represented now by e.g. Chinese 絲 /丝 (sī, “silk”)). Compare Seres. Doublet of seric and serge.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.