‖ bombyx
(ˈbɒmbɪks)
Also 5 bombax.
[L. bombyx (in med.L. bombax), a. Gr. βόµβυξ the silkworm, silk.]
1. The silkworm.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xviii. (1495) 777 The Bombax fyrste cometh forth as a worme..that gnawyth caul leuys and vyne leuys..and weuyth webbes as spynners doo. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Bombyx is..a name given to the silk-worm. 1837–40 Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 47. |
† 2. Raw silk. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xv. xciii. (1495) 524 In Mauritanea growen wonder hie trees..as it were wyth heere or wyth wulle . and therof ben clothes made by crafte: as it were bombax. |
3. Ent. A genus of moths, of which the most important is the silkworm moth (Bombyx mori). Sometimes any moth of the sub-order Bombycina.
| 1847 Carpenter Zool. §710 The genus Bombyx is one of great interest and importance. 1857 J. Greene Pupa Digging 21 The collector in want of any particular tree-feeding Bombyx or Noctua. |
† 4. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1658 Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 930 The Bombyx..is a creature resembling the Wasp, of a black hue, having a sting like as the Wasp hath. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. |