silver

Etymology

From Middle English silver, selver, sulver, from Old English seolfor, seolofor (“silver”), from Proto-West Germanic *silubr, from Proto-Germanic *silubrą (“silver”), of uncertain origin. cognates and etymology discussion Cognate with 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 of twenty-fifth wedding anniversary generalized from silver wedding, from German Silberhochzeit, silberne Hochzeit.

noun

1. (uncountable) A lustrous, white, metallic element, atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.87, symbol Ag.
2. (collectively) 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. 1990, David F. Friedman, Don DeNevi, A Youth in Babylon: Confessions of a Trash-film King, page 136
3. (collectively) Cutlery and other eating utensils, whether silver or made from some other white metal.
4. (collectively) Any items made from silver or any other white metal.
5. (uncountable) A shiny gray color.
   silver:
6. (countable) a silver medal
7. Anything resembling silver; something shiny and white.

adj

1. Made from silver.
   But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw, peeping around the massive silver epergne that almost obscured him from her view, that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either. 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax
2. Made from another white metal.
3. Having a color like silver: a shiny gray.
4. 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. 1994, “Mate matching” in Accent on Living, v 38, n 4 (Spring), p 52
5. (of commercial services) Premium, but inferior to gold.
6. Having the clear, musical tone of silver; soft and clear in sound.
   a silver-voiced young girl

verb

1. To acquire a silvery colour.
2. 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
3. To polish like silver; to impart a brightness to, like that of silver.
4. To make hoary, or white, like silver.