Etymology From Middle English silken, selken, seolkene, from Old English seolcen, from seolc (“silk”) + -en, from an unattested early Proto-West Germanic borrowing from Latin sēricum, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós, “silken”), from σήρ (sḗr, “silkworm”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”). Equivalent to silk + -en (“made of”). Cognate with Scots selkin, silkin (“silken”), Icelandic silki (“silken”).
1
Made of silk.
a silken veil
› Synonym of silky, like silk, silklike, particularly
2
Having a smooth, soft, or light texture.
[L]ove is not to be bought, in any ſenſe of the vvords, its ſilken vvings are inſtantly ſhrivelled up vvhen any thing beſide a return in kind is ſought.1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Of the Pernicious Effects which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC, page 322:
[…] in spite of the buzz in the next room, Edith had rolled herself up into a soft ball of muslin and ribbon, and silken curls, and gone off into a peaceful little after-dinner nap.1854 September – 1855 January, [Elizabeth Gaskell], chapter I, in North and South. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1855, →OCLC:
1 more example
He heard the silken rustle of a dressing-gown being drawn on.1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus, Random House, published 2010, page 37:
3
Suave.
[…] an admired silken-mannered gentleman in society, a tolerable polecat at home […]1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC:
4
Figuratively, Of speech or singing Having a smooth, soft, or flowing utterance; attractive or (typically derogatory) convincing through pleasing expression.
Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise, / Three-piled hyperboles, spruce affectation, / Figures pedantical; these summer-flies / Have blown me full of maggot ostentation:c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
Come then youth, Beauty, and Blood, all ye soft powers, / Whose silken flatteryes swell a few fond houres.1646, Richard Crashaw, “Vpon Mr. Staninough’s Death”, in Steps to the Temple: Sacred Poems, with Other Delights of the Muses, London: Humphrey Moseley, page 40:
5
Dressed in silk.
[S]hall a beardless boy, / A cocker’d silken wanton, brave our fields […]?c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
Yet though he cannot skip forth now to greet / Every fine silken painted foole we meet, / He then to him with amorous smiles allures,c. 1593–1597, J[ohn] Donne, “Satyre I”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 327:
2 more examples
Last Saturday was three Weeks, at Two, in the Afternoon, I sent out my Servant, to watch a Couple of these Silken Strollers, and keep, if possible, within Ken of them.1724, Aaron Hill, The Plain Dealer, London: S. Richardson & A. Wilde, 1730, Volume 2, No. 81, 28 December, 1724, p. 197
[…] the Viceroy moved magnificently through India, resplendent with all the colour and dash of the vast Empire at his feet, with his superb bodyguard jangling scarlet beside his carriage, silken Indian princes bowing at his carpet, generals quivering at the salute and ceremonial salutes of thirty-one guns […]1968, Jan Morris, chapter 10, in Pax Britannica: The Climax of Empire, London: Faber & Faber, published 2010, page 200:
Etymology From Middle English silken, selken, seolkene, from Old English seolcen, from seolc (“silk”) + -en, from an unattested early Proto-West Germanic borrowing from Latin sēricum, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós, “silken”), from σήρ (sḗr, “silkworm”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”). Equivalent to silk + -en (“made of”). Cognate with Scots selkin, silkin (“silken”), Icelandic silki (“silken”).
1
To render silken or silklike.
silkening body lotion
Or, if your sheep are of Silurian breed, Nightly to house them dry on fern or straw, Silk’ning their fleeces.1757, John Dyer, The Fleece, London: R. & J. Dodsley, Book I, lines 492-494, p. 30:
1 more example
[…] these lights silkened her black skin:1987, Derek Walcott, “The Light of the World”, in The Arkansas Testament, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 48: