silk

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

silk [silk silks] BrE [sɪlk] NAmE [sɪlk] noun
1. uncountable fine soft thread produced by ↑silkworms
2. uncountable a type of fine smooth cloth made from silk thread
•a silk blouse
•silk stockings
•made of pure silk
• Her skin was as smooth as silk.
see also ↑watered silk
3. uncountable silk thread used for sewing
4. silksplural clothes made of silk, especially the coloured shirts worn by people riding horses in a race (= ↑jockeys )
5. countable (BrE, law)a type of lawyer who represents the government (= a King's/Queen's counsel )
•to take silk (= to become this type of lawyer)
Idiom: ↑make a silk purse out of a sow's ear

Word Origin:
Old English sioloc, seolec, from late Latin sericum, neuter of Latin sericus, based on Greek Sēres, the name given to the inhabitants of the Far Eastern countries from which silk first came overland to Europe.

Example Bank:
•a drawing room decorated in rich blue and purple silks
•an evening dress of pure white silk
•fine silks produced in Italy
•ladies in silks and satins
•the bright silks of saris