| 释义 |
silk-cotton
[f. silk n. + cotton n.1]
1. The silky, elastic down or fibre obtained from various bombaceous and other tropical trees, and chiefly used for packing, stuffing pillows and cushions, making paper, etc.
1697W. Dampier Voy. (1698) I. vii. 164 They [white cotton-trees] bear a very fine sort of Cotton, called Silk Cotton,..like the Down of Thistles. 1703Ibid. III. i. 21 The Silk-Cotton grows on tender Shrubs, 3 or 4 Foot high, in Cods as big as an Apple. 1785Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxiv. (1794) 340 You have here Silk-Cotton, the True Cotton, so much used in our manufactures [etc.]. 1866Treas. Bot. 1009/2 The silk-cotton of the Simool..is, like other silk-cottons, not adapted for spinning. 1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlewk. 449/2 The Silk Cotton is enclosed within the capsules containing the seed, which is embedded in it.
attrib.1857Henfrey Bot. 246 Sterculiaceæ. The Silk-Cotton Order. 1866Treas. Bot. 155/1 Bombaceæ, the Silk-cotton family, a group..belonging to Lindley's Malval alliance.
2. silk-cotton tree, one or other of various species of tropical trees belonging to the genera Bombax, Eriodendron, Ochroma, and Pachira, which produce silk-cotton, esp. B. malabaricum, Munguba, or Ceiba, and E. anfractuosum or orientale. Cf. cotton-tree 1.
1712E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 117 We found here some Guinea Pepper, and silk Cotton-Trees. 1781Phil. Trans. LXXI. 168 This insect is most probably to be found in all countries where the silk-cotton-tree (Bombax) is indigenous. 1852Th. Ross tr. Humboldt's Trav. I. iv. 148 A silk-cotton tree.., the trunk of which, in its fourth year, had reached nearly two feet and a half in diameter. 1885A. Brassey The Trades 99 Herds of cattle grazed beneath the shade of huge silk-cotton trees. |