byssine, a.
(ˈbɪsɪn)
In 4 bissyn, bijcen.
[ad. L. byssin-us, a. Gr. βύσσινος made of byssus.]
1. Made of byssus or fine linen.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Byssine, silken, or which is made of fine flax or cloth. 1715 tr. Pancirollus' Rerum Mem. I. i. v. 14 That delicate Down..which sticks to a certain kind of Shell-fish..whence are made a sort of Garments called Byssine. 1849 Kingsley Misc. (1859) II. 173 The East sent to Rome 2000 years ago its ‘byssine garments’. 1877 Plumptre Sophocles 407 æneas..on his shoulders bears his sire, Who lets his byssine mantle fall in folds. |
2. quasi-n. [L. byssinum.] = byss n.1
| 1382 Wyclif Rev. xix. 8 And it is ȝouun to hir, that she couere hir with whijte bijce [1388 bissyn] shijnynge; for⁓sothe bijcen [1388 bissyn, Vulg. byssinum] ben the iustifiynges of seyntis. 1821 Lockhart Valerius II. iii. 106 Perhaps a yellow byssine would suit me better. |