silkworm
3
3.4
- noun
- /ˈsɪlkwɜrm/
:
gusano de seda
- The farmer raised silkworms to produce high-quality silk for his textile business.
- feed silkworms
- leaves to feed silkworms
And just like silkworms crate silk, humans create futures.
- And just like silkworms crate silk, humans create futures.
- And so she decided she would bring this by smuggling the silkworm eggs and also the seeds of the Mulberry tree in her headdress.
- But the Second World War presented a massive problem for countries that couldn't grow rubber trees and for countries that didn't have a whole lot of silkworms knocking around.
- Now, I wasn't even aware that silkworms were a thing in South Africa.
Examples
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Each family could add a small room to its kitchen to house the silkworms; the women and children could nurture them without neglecting their usual chores because the silkworms required little attention and were easy to manage.
Academic text (2014) -
They used to keep silkworms up there in the attic.
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Half the silkworms are either sick or dead.
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But, as the Chinese discovered long ago with the silkworm caterpillar, if you can gather enough of the material, it is a valuable commodity indeed.
Academic text (1994) -
In a box, we raise silkworms and give their colorful cocoons to other children in exchange for snacks.
Fiction book (1996) -
That year, in Edo, they signed a treaty authorizing the export of silkworm eggs.
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The town had large-scale silkworm cultivation, and many factories employed Korean workers.
Academic text (2003) -
-I gathered the silk from my silkworms and I spun it into thread on my spinning wheel.
-
From the Bombyx mori moth caterpillar, or silkworm.
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Carolina offered perhaps the best locale for breeding and incubating silkworms because it had the perfect tropical climate to grow the mulberry trees needed to feed them.
Academic text (2014)
Synonyms
A caterpillar that lives in the wild and makes strong silk in a cocoon
A large caterpillar that makes strong silk for its cocoon
A large bright green caterpillar that eats the leaves of the ailanthus tree and makes silk
Compounds
- Specialized
A creamy white Asian moth bred by people whose caterpillars make most silk
- Specialized
A large bright green caterpillar that eats the leaves of the ailanthus tree and makes silk
How Big
- Specialized
3
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Silkworm comes from the two words silk ('fine thread first made in China') and worm ('small soft creature'), so it is a simple name. So a silkworm is literally a 'worm' that makes 'silk', which is why it is the caterpillar that spins the thread used for textiles.