Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Covered with soft silky hairs.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Containing, pertaining to, or consisting of silk; having the character of silk; silky.
  • Resembling silk; silky or satiny in appearance; smooth, soft, and shiny, as the plumage of a bird, the surface of an insect, etc.
  • In botany, silky; covered with soft shining hairs pressed close to the surface: as, a sericeous leaf.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to silk; consisting of silk; silky.
  • adjective (Bot.) Covered with very soft hairs pressed close to the surface.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) Having a silklike luster, usually due to fine, close hairs.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or relating to silk; consisting of silk; silky.
  • adjective botany Covered with very soft hairs pressed close to the surface.
  • adjective zoology Having a silky lustre, usually due to fine, close hairs.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective covered with fine soft hairs or down

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin sēriceus, silken, alteration of sēricus; see serge.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin sericus silken, sericum Seric stuff, silk, from Sericus belonging to the Seres, Ancient Greek a people of Eastern Asia, the modern Chinese, celebrated for their silken fabrics. Compare silk, serge a woollen stuff.

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