Byssus

ahd-5
  • noun. A mass of strong, silky filaments by which certain bivalve mollusks, such as mussels, attach themselves to rocks and other fixed surfaces.
  • noun. A fine-textured linen of ancient times, used by the Egyptians for wrapping mummies.
    • The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  • noun. Among the ancients, originally, a fine yellowish flax, especially Indian and Egyptian, and the linen made from it, such as the Egyptian mummy-cloth; afterward, also, cotton and silk (the latter, before its origin was known, being taken for a kind of cotton).
  • noun. One of the byssi, a name formerly given by botanists to a heterogeneous collection of filamentous cryptogamic plants.
  • noun. In conchology, a long, delicate, lustrous, and silky bunch of filaments, secreted by the foot, and serving as a means of attachment to other Objects.
    • the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
  • noun. A cloth of exceedingly fine texture, used by the ancients. It is disputed whether it was of cotton, linen, or silk.
  • noun. A tuft of long, tough filaments which are formed in a groove of the foot, and issue from between the valves of certain bivalve mollusks, as the Pinna and Mytilus, by which they attach themselves to rocks, etc.
  • noun. An obsolete name for certain fungi composed of slender threads.
  • noun. Asbestus.
    • Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
  • noun. An exceptionally fine and valuable fibre or cloth of ancient times. Originally used for fine flax and linens, its use was later extended to fine cottons, silks, and sea silk.
  • noun. The long fine silky filaments excreted by several mollusks (particularly Pinna nobilis) by which they attach themselves to the sea bed, from which sea silk is manufactured.
  • noun. The stipe or stem of some fungi which are particularly thin and thread-like.
    • WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
  • noun. tuft of strong filaments by which e.g. a mussel makes itself fast to a fixed surface
    • Word Usage
    "Mussels anchor themselves in the inter-tidal zone by means of a thatch of tough proteinaceous fibers called the byssus, or “beard.”"
    Hypernym
    Words that are more generic or abstract
    fiber  fibre  
    Same Context
    Words that are found in similar contexts
    Euphorbia  aubergine  batwings  bayberry  before-breakfast  
    Synonym
    Words with the same meaning
    asbestus  
    variant
    byss  byssi  byssin  
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