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silver

noun
/ˈsɪl.və/UK/ˈsɪl.vɚ/US/ˈsɪlvɚ/US

Etymology

Etymology tree substratebor.? Proto-Germanic *silubrą Proto-West Germanic *silubr Old English seolfor Middle English silver English silver Inherited from Middle English silver, selver, sulver, from Old English seolfor, from Proto-West Germanic *silubr, from Proto-Germanic *silubrą (“silver”), of uncertain origin. cognates and etymology discussion Cognate with Scots siller (“silver”), Saterland Frisian Säälwer (“silver”), West Frisian sulver (“silver”), Dutch zilver (“silver”), German Low German Silver, Sülver (“silver”), German Silber (“silver”), Swedish silver (“silver”), Icelandic silfur (“silver”). The Germanic word has parallels in Baltic and Slavic (Old Church Slavonic сьрєбро (sĭrebro), Lithuanian sidabras), Celtic (Celtiberian silaPur-), and outside Indo-European, in Basque zilar and Proto-Berber *a-ẓrəf, but the ultimate origin of the word is unknown. Adjective sense 4 (“denoting a twenty-fifth anniversary”) generalized from silver wedding, itself a calque of German Silberhochzeit.

  1. inherited from *silubrą✻ — “silver”
  2. inherited from *silubr✻
  3. inherited from seolfor
  4. inherited from silver,selver,sulver

Definitions

  1. A lustrous, white, metallic element, atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.87, symbol Ag.

  2. Coins made from silver or any similar white metal.

    • […] maybe two or three twenties, a dozen tens, and twenty or thirty fins. The rest is all aces and silver.

  3. Cutlery and other eating utensils, whether silver or made from some other white metal.

  4. ›+ 18 more definitions

    1. Any items made from silver or any other white metal.

    2. A shiny gray color.

      • I'll need some mayonnaise and a silver tin of sardines, a banana.

    3. a silver medal

    4. Anything resembling silver

      Anything resembling silver; something shiny and white.

    5. Made from silver.

    6. Made from another white metal.

    7. Having a color like silver

      Having a color like silver: a shiny gray.

    8. Denoting the twenty-fifth anniversary, especially of a wedding.

      • Mostly, these have been relationships of 10 or less years. However, one respondent has celebrated her silver wedding anniversary.

    9. Premium, but inferior to gold.

    10. Pertaining or relating to elderly persons.

    11. Having the clear, musical tone of silver

      Having the clear, musical tone of silver; soft and clear in sound.

      • a silver-voiced young girl

    12. To acquire a silvery colour.

      • Presently all the eastern sky began to silver and shine, and objects before invisible in the west—chiefly the tall towers on Mount Zion—emerged as from a shadowy depth, [...]

    13. To cover with silver, or with a silvery metal.

      • to silver a pin; to silver a glass mirror plate with an amalgam of tin and mercury

    14. To polish like silver

      To polish like silver; to impart a brightness to, like that of silver.

      • For here retir'd the ſinking billows ſleep, / And ſmiling calmneſs ſilver'd o'er the deep.

    15. To make hoary, or white, like silver.

      • Remote from cities liv'd a Swain, / Unvex'd with all the cares of gain, / His head was ſilver'd o'er with age, / And long experience made him ſage; [...]

    16. An English surname originating as an occupation for a silversmith or a rich man, or for…

      An English surname originating as an occupation for a silversmith or a rich man, or for someone having silvery gray hair or living by a silvery brook.

    17. A surname from German.

    18. A unisex given name from English from the metal, or transferred from the surname.

      • " - - - I'll level with you, Mr. Cummings." "Silver", he corrected. "Sounds like the Lone Ranger's horse," she said.
      • "Silver here, my darling wife, insists on the services of a particular yacht upholsterer. - - - " From the way he said the woman's metal name Quayle thought it was changed from a stodgier "Alice" or "Bernice".

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at silver. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01silver02lustrous03shining04polish05chickens06chicken07meat08flesh09tissue

A definitional loop anchored at silver. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at silver

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA