[Origin: 1275–1325; ME gosesomer (see goose, summer1); possibly first used as name for late, mild autumn, a time when goose was a favorite dish (cf. G Gänsemonat November), then transferred to the cobwebs frequent at that time of year]
A fine film of cobwebs often seen floating in the air or caught on bushes or grass.
adj.
Sheer, light, delicate, or tenuous. See Synonyms at airy.
[Middle English gossomer : gos, goose; see goose + somer, summer (probably from the abundance of gossamer during early autumn when geese are in season); see summer1.]
c.1325, "spider threads spun in fields of stubble in late fall," apparently from gos "goose" + sumer "summer" (cf. Swed. sommertrad "summer thread"). The reference might be to a fancied resemblance of the silk to goose down, or because geese are in season then. The Ger. equivalent mädchensommer (lit. "girls' summer") also has a sense of "Indian summer," and the Eng. word may originally have referred to a warm spell in autumn before being transferred to a phenomenon especially noticable then. Meaning "anything light or flimsy" is from c.1400. The adj. sense "filmy" is attested from 1802.
characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy; "this smallest and most ethereal of birds"; "gossamer shading through his playing" [syn: ethereal]
2.
so thin as to transmit light; "a hat with a diaphanous veil"; "filmy wings of a moth"; "gauzy clouds of dandelion down"; "gossamer cobwebs"; "sheer silk stockings"; "transparent chiffon"; "vaporous silks"
noun
1.
a gauze fabric with an extremely fine texture
2.
filaments from a web that was spun by a spider [syn: cobweb]
Gos"sa*mer\, n. [OE. gossomer, gossummer, gosesomer, perh. for goose summer, from its downy appearance, or perh. for God's summer, cf. G. mariengarr gossamer, properly Mary's yarn, in allusion to the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the E. word alluded to a legend that the gossamer was the remnant of the Virgin Mary's winding sheet, which dropped from her when she was taken up to heaven. For the use of summer in the sense of film or threads, cf. G. M["a]dchensommer, Altweibersommer, fliegender Sommer, all meaning, gossamer.]1. A fine, filmy substance, like cobwebs, floating in the air, in calm, clear weather, especially in autumn. It is seen in stubble fields and on furze or low bushes, and is formed by small spiders. 2. Any very thin gauzelike fabric; also, a thin waterproof stuff. 3. An outer garment, made of waterproof gossamer. Gossamer spider (Zo["o]l.), any small or young spider which spins webs by which to sail in the air. See Ballooning spider.
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