silk-cotton
[f. silk n. + cotton n.1]
1. The silky, elastic down or fibre obtained from various bombaceous and other tropical trees, and chiefly used for packing, stuffing pillows and cushions, making paper, etc.
| 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1698) I. vii. 164 They [white cotton-trees] bear a very fine sort of Cotton, called Silk Cotton,..like the Down of Thistles. 1703 Ibid. III. i. 21 The Silk-Cotton grows on tender Shrubs, 3 or 4 Foot high, in Cods as big as an Apple. 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxiv. (1794) 340 You have here Silk-Cotton, the True Cotton, so much used in our manufactures [etc.]. 1866 Treas. Bot. 1009/2 The silk-cotton of the Simool..is, like other silk-cottons, not adapted for spinning. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlewk. 449/2 The Silk Cotton is enclosed within the capsules containing the seed, which is embedded in it. |
| attrib. 1857 Henfrey Bot. 246 Sterculiaceæ. The Silk-Cotton Order. 1866 Treas. Bot. 155/1 Bombaceæ, the Silk-cotton family, a group..belonging to Lindley's Malval alliance. |
2. silk-cotton tree, one or other of various species of tropical trees belonging to the genera
Bombax,
Eriodendron,
Ochroma, and
Pachira, which produce silk-cotton,
esp. B. malabaricum,
Munguba, or
Ceiba, and
E. anfractuosum or
orientale.
Cf. cotton-tree 1.
| 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 117 We found here some Guinea Pepper, and silk Cotton-Trees. 1781 Phil. Trans. LXXI. 168 This insect is most probably to be found in all countries where the silk-cotton-tree (Bombax) is indigenous. 1852 Th. Ross tr. Humboldt's Trav. I. iv. 148 A silk-cotton tree.., the trunk of which, in its fourth year, had reached nearly two feet and a half in diameter. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 99 Herds of cattle grazed beneath the shade of huge silk-cotton trees. |