See Also: Velvet(medicine)
velvet ant(medicine)
velvet(1)(dictionary)
velvet(2)(dictionary)
velvet(encyclopedia)
velvet(dictionary)
ants, velvet(medicine)
velvet ant stings(medicine)
Velvet de Inversiones, SICAV, S.A.(finance)

velvet(1) (iou)



velvet noun & adjective. ME.
[Old French veluotte, from velu velvety from medieval Latin villutus, from Latin villus hair.]
A. noun.
A soft closely woven fabric of silk, cotton, etc., with a short dense pile. ME.
fig.: E. B. White A line as smooth as velvet to the ear.
b. A piece of this fabric. LME.
c. A garment, esp. a dress, made of velvet. M19.
D. Barnes A tight-fitting velvet with buttons all down the front.
d. Gain, profit, winnings. Freq. in to the velvet, to the good. slang. E20.
The soft downy skin which covers a deer's antler while in the growing stage. LME.
A surface, substance, etc., resembling velvet in appearance or softness of texture. L16.
T. Gray The velvet of her paws.
Phrases: black velvet: see BLACK adjective. in velvet (of a deer) having the antlers covered with velvet. on velvet slang in a position of ease or advantage; in an advantageous or prosperous condition. UTRECHT velvet.
b. attrib. or as adjective.
Made of velvet. ME.
A. Craig She tied a black velvet ribbon round her throat.
Resembling velvet in texture; soft, smooth, velvety. L16.
B. Neil The [car] door..shut..with the velvet click of expensive machinery.
Comb. & special collocations: velvet ant any of various mutillid wasps which have a velvety appearance and wingless females; velvet bean a climbing bean with densely hairy pods, Mucuna deeringiana, grown as a fodder plant in tropical and subtropical regions; velvet carpet a cut-pile carpet similar to Wilton; velvet copper ore cyanotrichite; velvet crab = velvet swimming crab below; velvet-dock common mullein; velvet duck = velvet scoter below; velvet fiddler crab = velvet swimming crab below; velvetfish a small Australian fish, Aploactisoma milesii, which is covered with velvety papillae and is frequent in shallow coastal waters; velvet glove an appearance of urbanity and gentleness, esp. one masking firmness or inflexibility (cf. iron hand in a velvet glove s.v. IRON adjective); velvet grass N. Amer. Yorkshire fog, Holcus lanatus; velvet-guard a trimming of velvet; a wearer of such trimmings; velvet-leaf any of several plants with soft velvety leaves; esp. the Indian mallow, Abutilon theophrasti, and the false pareira Cissampelos pareira; velvet-painting the art of painting on velvet using diluted semi-transparent colours; velvet-pile adjective & noun (a) adjective having a pile like that of velvet; (b) noun a carpet or fabric of this kind; velvet revolution [translating Czech sametova revoluce] a non-violent political revolution, esp. one in which a totalitarian regime is replaced; spec. the sequence of events in Czechoslovakia which led to the ending of communist rule in late 1989; velvet sauce = VELOUTe; velvet scoter a holarctic scoter, Melanitta fusca, which is black with a white wing patch; velvet sponge a soft flat commercial sponge which is a form of Hippospongia equina found in the Caribbean area; velvet sumac stag-horn sumac, Rhus hirta; velvet swimming crab any of several swimming crabs which have the carapace covered with fine hair; esp. Liocarcinus puber, which is common on rocky coasts of the N. Atlantic; velvet-worm = ONYCHOPHORAN noun.
velveted adjective covered with velvet or a velvety substance; dressed in velvet: E17.