silk-cotton tree
1Silk-cotton tree — Silk Silk, n. [OE. silk, selk, AS. seolc, seoloc; akin to Icel. silki, SW. & Dan. silke; prob. through Slavic from an Oriental source; cf. Lith. szilkai, Russ. shelk , and also L. sericum Seric stuff, silk. Cf. {Sericeous}. {Serge} a woolen stuff …
2silk-cotton tree — [silk′kät΄ n] n. any of several large, tropical, trees (genera Bombax and Ceiba) of the bombax family that have capsular fruits with silky hairs around the seeds …
3silk-cotton tree — noun massive tropical tree with deep ridges on its massive trunk and bearing large pods of seeds covered with silky floss; source of the silky kapok fiber • Syn: ↑kapok, ↑ceiba tree, ↑white silk cotton tree, ↑Bombay ceiba, ↑God tree, ↑Ceiba… …
4silk-cotton tree — /silk kot n/ any of several spiny trees belonging to the genus Ceiba, of the bombax family, having palmately compound leaves and seeds surrounded by silk cotton, esp. C. pentandra, from which kapok is obtained. [1705 15] * * * …
5silk-cotton tree — /sɪlk ˈkɒtn ˌtri/ (say silk kotn .tree) noun any of several trees of the family Bombacaceae, having seeds surrounded by silk cotton, especially Ceiba pentandra, from which kapok is obtained …
6silk-cotton tree — noun Date: 1712 any of various tropical trees (family Bombacaceae, the silk cotton family) with palmate leaves and large fruits with the seeds enveloped by silk cotton; especially ceiba 1 …
7silk cotton tree — American cotton tree, tree that belongs to the Ceiba family …
8silk-cotton tree — noun a tree which produces kapok. [Bombax ceiba (India) and Ceiba pentandra (the ceiba, tropical America).] …
9white silk-cotton tree — noun massive tropical tree with deep ridges on its massive trunk and bearing large pods of seeds covered with silky floss; source of the silky kapok fiber • Syn: ↑kapok, ↑ceiba tree, ↑silk cotton tree, ↑Bombay ceiba, ↑God tree, ↑Ceiba pentandra • …
10red silk-cotton tree — noun East Indian silk cotton tree yielding fibers inferior to kapok • Syn: ↑simal, ↑Bombax ceiba, ↑Bombax malabarica • Hypernyms: ↑tree • Member Holonyms: ↑Bombax, ↑genus Bombax …