silver definition | Dictionary.com

sil⋅ver

[sil-ver]

–noun

1.	Chemistry. a white, ductile metallic element, used for making mirrors, coins, ornaments, table utensils, photographic chemicals, conductors, etc. Symbol: Ag; atomic weight: 107.870; atomic number: 47; specific gravity: 10.5 at 20°C.

2.	coin made of this metal; specie; money: a handful of silver.

3.	this metal as a commodity or considered as a currency standard.

4.	table articles made of or plated with silver, including flatware and hollowware.

5.	any flatware: The kitchen silver is of stainless steel.

6.	something resembling this metal in color, luster, etc.

7.	a lustrous grayish white or whitish gray, or the color of the metal: the silver of the leaves.

8.	any of the silver halides used for photographic purposes, as silver bromide, silver chloride, or silver iodide.

9.	silver medal.

–adjective

10.	consisting of, made of, or plated with silver.

11.	of or pertaining to silver.

12.	producing or yielding silver.

13.	resembling silver; silvery: the silver moon.

14.	clear and soft: silver sounds.

15.	eloquent; persuasive: a silver tongue.

16.	urging the use of silver as a currency standard: silver economists.

17.	indicating the twenty-fifth event of a series, as a wedding anniversary.

18.	having the color silver: a silver dress.

–verb (used with object)

19.	to coat with silver or some silverlike substance.

20.	to give a silvery color to.

–verb (used without object)

21.	to become a silvery color.

Origin:
bef. 900; (n. and adj.) ME silver(e), selver(e), selfer, OE siolfor (orig. n.); c. G Silber, ON silfr, Goth silubr, akin to Serbo-Croatian srèbro, Russ serebró, Lith sidãbras; (v.) late ME silveren, deriv. of the n.

Related forms:

sil⋅ver⋅er, noun

sil⋅ver⋅ish, adjective

sil⋅ver⋅less, adjective

sil⋅ver⋅like, adjective

sil⋅ver⋅ness, noun

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Sil⋅ver

[sil-ver]

–noun

Ab⋅ba Hillel [ab-uh]

, 1893–1963, U.S. rabbi, born in Lithuania.

silver medal

–noun

a medal, traditionally of silver or silver in color, awarded to a person or team finishing second in a competition, meet, or tournament.

Also, silver.

Compare bronze medal, gold medal.

Related forms:

silver medalist, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To silver

sil·ver (sĭl'vər)

Symbol Ag A lustrous white, ductile, malleable metallic element, occurring both uncombined and in ores such as argentite, having the highest thermal and electrical conductivity of the metals. It is highly valued for jewelry, tableware, and other ornamental use and is widely used in coinage, photography, dental and soldering alloys, electrical contacts, and printed circuits. Atomic number 47; atomic weight 107.87; melting point 960.8°C; boiling point 2,212°C; specific gravity 10.50; valence 1, 2. See Table at element.
This metallic element as a commodity or medium of exchange.
Coins made of this metallic element.
A medal made of silver awarded to one placing second in a competition, as in the Olympics.
1. Domestic articles, such as tableware, made of or plated with silver.
2. Tableware, especially eating and serving utensils, made of steel or another metal.
A lustrous medium gray.
A silver salt, especially silver nitrate, used to sensitize paper.

adj.

Made of or containing silver: a silver bowl; silver ore.
Resembling silver, especially in having a lustrous shine; silvery.
Of a lustrous medium gray: silver hair.
Having a soft, clear, resonant sound.
Eloquent; persuasive: a silver voice.
Favoring the adoption of silver as a standard of currency: the silver plank of the 1896 Democratic platform.
Of or constituting a 25th anniversary.

v. sil·vered, sil·ver·ing, sil·vers

v. tr.

To cover, plate, or adorn with silver or a similar lustrous substance.
To give a silver color to.
To coat (photographic paper) with a film of silver nitrate or other silver salt.

v. intr.
To become silvery.

[Middle English, from Old English siolfor, seolfor, probably ultimately from Akkadian ṣarpu, refined silver, verbal adj. of ṣarāpu, to smelt, refine; see ṣrp in Semitic roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Silver

Sil"ver\, n. [OE. silver, selver, seolver, AS. seolfor, siolfur, siolufr, silofr, sylofr; akin to OS. silubar, OFries. selover, D. zilver, LG. sulver, OHG. silabar, silbar, G. silber, Icel. silfr, Sw. silfver, Dan. s["o]lv, Goth. silubr, Russ. serebro, Lith. sidabras; of unknown origin.]

1. (Chem.) A soft white metallic element, sonorous, ductile, very malleable, and capable of a high degree of polish. It is found native, and also combined with sulphur, arsenic, antimony, chlorine, etc., in the minerals argentite, proustite, pyrargyrite, ceragyrite, etc. Silver is one of the "noble" metals, so-called, not being easily oxidized, and is used for coin, jewelry, plate, and a great variety of articles. Symbol Ag (Argentum). Atomic weight 107.7. Specific gravity 10.5.

Note: Silver was known under the name of luna to the ancients and also to the alchemists. Some of its compounds, as the halogen salts, are remarkable for the effect of light upon them, and are used in photography.

2. Coin made of silver; silver money.

3. Anything having the luster or appearance of silver.

4. The color of silver.

Note: Silver is used in the formation of many compounds of obvious meaning; as, silver-armed, silver-bright, silver-buskined, silver-coated, silver-footed, silver-haired, silver-headed, silver-mantled, silver-plated, silver-slippered, silver-sounding, silver-studded, silver-tongued, silver-white. See Silver, a.

Black silver (Min.), stephanite; -- called also brittle silver ore, or brittle silver glance.

Fulminating silver. (Chem.) (a) A black crystalline substance, Ag2O.(NH3)2, obtained by dissolving silver oxide in aqua ammonia. When dry it explodes violently on the slightest percussion. (b) Silver fulminate, a white crystalline substance, Ag2C2N2O2, obtained by adding alcohol to a solution of silver nitrate. When dry it is violently explosive.

German silver. (Chem.) See under German.

Gray silver. (Min.) See Freieslebenite.

Horn silver. (Min.) See Cerargyrite.

King's silver. (O. Eng. Law) See Postfine.

Red silver, or Ruby silver. (Min.) See Proustite, and Pyrargyrite.

Silver beater, one who beats silver into silver leaf or silver foil.

Silver glance, or Vitreous silver. (Min.) See Argentine.

Silver

Sil"ver\, a. 1. Of or pertaining to silver; made of silver; as, silver leaf; a silver cup.

2. Resembling silver. Specifically: (a) Bright; resplendent; white. "Silver hair." --Shak.

Others, on silver lakes and rivers, bathed Their downy breast. --Milton. (b) Precious; costly. (c) Giving a clear, ringing sound soft and clear. "Silver voices." --Spenser. (d) Sweet; gentle; peaceful. "Silver slumber." --Spenser.

American silver fir (Bot.), the balsam fir. See under Balsam.

Silver age (Roman Lit.), the latter part (a. d. 14-180) of the classical period of Latinity, -- the time of writers of inferior purity of language, as compared with those of the previous golden age, so-called.

Silver-bell tree (Bot.), an American shrub or small tree (Halesia tetraptera) with white bell-shaped flowers in clusters or racemes; the snowdrop tree.

Silver bush (Bot.), a shrubby leguminous plant (Anthyllis Barba-Jovis) of Southern Europe, having silvery foliage.

Silver chub (Zo["o]l.), the fallfish.

Silver eel. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The cutlass fish. (b) A pale variety of the common eel.

Silver fir (Bot.), a coniferous tree (Abies pectinata) found in mountainous districts in the middle and south of Europe, where it often grows to the height of 100 or 150 feet. It yields Burgundy pitch and Strasburg turpentine.

Silver foil, foil made of silver.

Silver fox (Zo["o]l.), a variety of the common fox (Vulpes vulpes, variety argenteus) found in the northern parts of Asia, Europe, and America. Its fur is nearly black, with silvery tips, and is highly valued. Called also black fox, and silver-gray fox.

Silver gar. (Zo["o]l.) See Billfish (a) .

Silver grain (Bot.), the lines or narrow plates of cellular tissue which pass from the pith to the bark of an exogenous stem; the medullary rays. In the wood of the oak they are much larger than in that of the beech, maple, pine, cherry, etc.

Silver grebe (Zo["o]l.), the red-throated diver. See Illust. under Diver.

Silver hake (Zo["o]l.), the American whiting.

Silver leaf, leaves or sheets made of silver beaten very thin.

Silver lunge (Zo["o]l.), the namaycush.

Silver moonfish.(Zo["o]l.) See Moonfish (b) .

Silver moth (Zo["o]l.), a lepisma.

Silver owl (Zo["o]l.), the barn owl.

Silver perch (Zo["o]l.), the mademoiselle, 2.

Silver pheasant (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of beautiful crested and long-tailed Asiatic pheasants, of the genus Euplocamus. They have the tail and more or less of the upper parts silvery white. The most common species (E. nychtemerus) is native of China.

Silver plate, domestic utensils made of silver.

Silver plover (Zo["o]l.), the knot.

Silver salmon (Zo["o]l.), a salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) native of both coasts of the North Pacific. It ascends all the American rivers as far south as the Sacramento. Called also kisutch, whitefish, and white salmon.

Silver shell (Zo["o]l.), a marine bivalve of the genus Anomia. See Anomia.

Silver steel, an alloy of steel with a very small proportion of silver.

Silver stick, a title given to the title field officer of the Life Guards when on duty at the palace. [Eng.] --Thackeray.

Silver tree (Bot.), a South African tree (Leucadendron argenteum) with long, silvery, silky leaves.

Silver trout, (Zo["o]l.) See Trout.

Silver wedding. See under Wedding.

Silver whiting (Zo["o]l.), a marine sci[ae]noid food fish (Menticirrus littoralis) native of the Southern United States; -- called also surf whiting.

Silver witch (Zo["o]l.), A lepisma.

Silver

Sil"ver\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Silvered; p. pr. & vb. n. Silvering.]

1. To cover with silver; to give a silvery appearance to by applying a metal of a silvery color; as, to silver a pin; to silver a glass mirror plate with an amalgam of tin and mercury.

2. To polish like silver; to impart a brightness to, like that of silver.

And smiling calmness silvered o'er the deep. --Pope.

3. To make hoary, or white, like silver.

His head was silvered o'er with age. --Gay.

Silver

Sil"ver\, v. i. To acquire a silvery color. [R.]

The eastern sky began to silver and shine. --L. Wallace.

Language Translation for : silver

Spanish: plata,

German: das Silber,

Japanese: 銀

More Translations »

silver

O.E. seolfor "silver," from P.Gmc. *silubra- (cf. O.S. silvbar, O.N. silfr, M.Du. silver, Du. zilver, O.H.G. sillabar, Ger. silber, Goth. silubr), from a common Germanic/Balto-Slavic term (cf. O.C.S. sirebo, Rus. serebo, Lith. sidabras "silver"), possibly from a language of Asia Minor. Perhaps from Akkad. sarpu "silver," lit. "refined silver," related to sarapu "to refine, smelt." Chemical abbreviation Ag is from L. argentum "silver," from the PIE root (see argent). The verb, "to cover or plate with silver" is recorded from 1440. Silverware is from 1860.

Silver

An element commonly used in jewelry, coins, electronics, and photography. Silver has the highest electrical conductivity of any metal.

Investopedia Commentary

Silver is considered to be a precious metal.

Main Entry: sil·ver
Pronunciation: 'sil-v&r
Function: noun
: a white metallic element that is sonorous, ductile, very malleable, capable of a highdegree of polish, and chiefly monovalent in compounds, and that has the highest thermal and electric conductivity of any substance —symbol Ag; —see ELEMENT table

silver sil·ver (sĭl'vər)
n.
Symbol Ag
A lustrous ductile malleable metallic element having the highest thermal and electrical conductivity of the metals and used in dental alloys. Atomic number 47; atomic weight 107.868; melting point 961.8°C; boiling point 2,162°C; specific gravity 10.50; valence 1, 2.

silver (sĭl'vər) Pronunciation Key
Symbol Ag
A soft, shiny, white metallic element that is found in many ores, especially together with copper, lead, and zinc. It conducts heat and electricity better than any other metal. Silver is used in photography and in making electrical circuits and conductors. Atomic number 47; atomic weight 107.868; melting point 960.8°C; boiling point 2,212°C; specific gravity 10.50; valence 1, 2. See also sterling silver. See Periodic Table. See Note at element.

Silver

used for a great variety of purposes, as may be judged from the frequent references to it in Scripture. It first appears in commerce in Gen. 13:2; 23:15, 16. It was largely employed for making vessels for the sanctuary in the wilderness (Ex. 26:19; 27:17; Num. 7:13, 19; 10:2). There is no record of its having been found in Syria or Palestine. It was brought in large quantities by foreign merchants from abroad, from Spain and India and other countries probably.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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silver

In addition to the idiom beginning with silver, also see born with a silver spoon; cross someone's palm with silver; hand to on a silver platter.

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