silken

Etymology

From Middle English silken, selken, seolkene, from Old English seolcen, equivalent to silk + -en (“made of”). Cognate with Scots selkin, silkin (“silken”), Icelandic silki (“silken”).

adj

1. Made of silk.
   a silken veil
2. Having a smooth, soft, or light texture, like that of silk; suggestive of silk.
   Come then youth, Beauty, and Blood, all ye soft powers, 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
   […] 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. 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 1, in North and South
   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. (figurative, of speech, singing, oratory, etc.) Smoothly uttered; flowing, subtle, or convincing in presentation.
4. Dressed in silk.
   1724, Aaron Hill, The Plain Dealer, London: S. Richardson & A. Wilde, 1730, Volume 2, No. 81, 28 December, 1724, p. 197, 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.
   […] 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

verb

1. (transitive) To render silken or silklike.
   silkening body lotion
   1757, John Dyer, The Fleece, London: R. & J. Dodsley, Book I, lines 492-494, p. 30, Or, if your sheep are of Silurian breed, Nightly to house them dry on fern or straw, Silk’ning their fleeces.
   […] 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