13 August 2016
gossamer
[gos-uh-mer]
noun
1. a fine, filmy cobweb seen on grass or bushes or floating in the air in calm weather, especially in autumn.
2. a thread or a web of this substance.
3. an extremely delicate variety of gauze, used especially for veils.
4. any thin, light fabric.
5. something extremely light, flimsy, or delicate.
6. a thin, waterproof outer garment, especially for women.
adjective
7. Also, gossamery [gos-uh-muh-ree] (Show IPA), gossamered. of or like gossamer; thin and light.
Origin of gossamer
Middle English German
1275-1325; Middle English gosesomer (see goose, summer1); possibly first used as name for late, mild autumn, a time when goose was a favorite dish (compare German Gänsemonat November), then transferred to the cobwebs frequent at that time of year
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for gossamer
Historical Examples
There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.
Edgar Allan Poe
Fascinated, he watched the heavy dark drop hang in the glistening cloud, and pull down the gossamer.
Sons and Lovers
David Herbert Lawrence
I have no idea what place these gossamer threads occupy in the economy of nature.
Gossamer
George A. Birmingham
When tens of thousands of the used threads sink to earth, there is a “shower of gossamer.”
The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4)
J. Arthur Thomson
Anagram
gear moss
rose mags
smogs era
some rags
mars goes
Today’s quote
A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men’s lives should not stake their own.
– H. G. Wells
On this day
13 August 1784 – British Parliament enacts ‘Pitt’s India Act’, which brought the East India company under the control of the British government.
13 August 1899 – birth of Alfred Hitchcock, English movie director and producer.
13 August 1926 – birth of Fidel Castro, former Cuban President.
13 August 1946 – death of Herbert George ‘H.G.’ Wells, British science fiction writer, author of The War of the Worlds, Time Machine, Island of Dr Moreau, The War of the Worlds. Born 21 September 1866.
13 August 1961 – construction of the Berlin Wall commences.