Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Velvet

Vel′vet (vĕl′vĕt), n. [OE. velouette, veluet, velwet; cf. OF. velluau, LL. velluetum, vellutum, It. velluto, Sp. velludo; all fr. (assumed) LL. villutus shaggy, fr L. villus shaggy hair; akin to vellus a fleece, and E. wool. See Wool, and cf. Villous.]

1. A silk fabric, having a short, close nap of erect threads. Inferior qualities are made with a silk pile on a cotton or linen back.

2. The soft and highly vascular deciduous skin which envelops and nourishes the antlers of deer during their rapid growth.

Cotton velvet, an imitation of velvet, made of cotton. — Velvet cork, the best kind of cork bark, supple, elastic, and not woody or porous. — Velvet crab a European crab (Portunus puber). When adult the black carapace is covered with a velvety pile. Called also lady crab, and velvet fiddler. — Velvet dock (Bot.), the common mullein. — Velvet duck. (Zoöl.) (a) A large European sea duck, or scoter (Oidemia fusca). The adult male is glossy, velvety black, with a white speculum on each wing, and a white patch behind each eye. (b) The American whitewinged scoter. See Scoter. — Velvet flower (Bot.), love-lies-bleeding. See under Love. — Velvet grass (Bot.), a tall grass (Holcus lanatus) with velvety stem and leaves; — called also soft grass. — Velvet runner (Zoöl.), the water rail; — so called from its quiet, stealthy manner of running. [Prov. Eng.] — Velvet scoter. (Zoöl.) Same as Velvet duck, above. — Velvet sponge. (Zoöl.) See under Sponge.

Vel′vet, a. Made of velvet; soft and delicate, like velvet; velvety. " The cowslip's velvet head." Milton.

Vel′vet, v. i. To pain velvet. [R.] Peacham.

Vel′vet, v. t. To make like, or cover with, velvet. [R.]

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.