Skip to main content
silks

silks

7.5
Brightly colored clothes jockeys wear to show their stable during races
  • noun
  • /sɪlks/
  • Jargon
translation icon : seda

Examples

  • Thatcher, from my Aerial Silks Retreat said that real estate is a great investment.

  • The jockey wore bright silks that represented his stable during the race.

  • In horse racing, each jockey's silks are unique to their stable and are worn for identification.

  • The horse's owner proudly displayed the winning silks at the celebration after the race.

How Suitable

hippic outfit
  • Specialized
8.7
silks
  • Jargon
7.5
sportswear
9 1.3

Surface Forms

silk singular
silks plural

Morphology

silks = silk (semi-transparent) = silk + s

The word is the plural of 'silk' (a fabric), but the specialised sense 'jockeys' brightly coloured jackets' is a domain-specific extension.

Etymology

Silks comes from the cloth silk, a material first famous in China and known as a 'fine fabric'. Because silk was bright and costly, the fancy jackets worn by jockeys were called silks, so today silks means the special colorful clothes used in horse races.