Pronunciations (4)
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/ˈsɪl.və/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/ˈsɪl.vɚ/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
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ˈsɪl.və
Pronunciation notes
- GB
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ˈsɪl.vɚ
Pronunciation notes
- US
Noun
A lustrous, white, metallic element, atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.87, symbol Ag.
Usage- Uncountable
Coins made from silver or any similar white metal.
Usage- collective
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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[…] maybe two or three twenties, a dozen tens, and twenty or thirty fins. The rest is all aces and silver.
Cutlery and other eating utensils, whether silver or made from some other white metal.
Usage- collective
- Countable
- Uncountable
Any items made from silver or any other white metal.
Usage- collective
- Countable
- Uncountable
A shiny gray color.
Usage- Uncountable
- Examples
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I'll need some mayonnaise and a silver tin of sardines, a banana.
A silver medal.
Usage- Countable
Anything resembling silver; something shiny and white.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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More examples (1)
And next morning they found him dead, with his neck broken, in the bottom of the stone pit, with his beautiful clothes a little bloody, and foul and stained with the duckweed from the pond. But his face was a face of such happiness that, had you seen it, you would have understood indeed how that he had died happy, never knowing that cool and streaming silver for the duckweed in the pond.
Adjective
Made from silver.
- Examples
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More examples (2)
He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.
But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw, peeping around the massive silver epergne that almost obscured him from her view, that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either.
Made from another white metal.
Having a color like silver: a shiny gray.
Denoting the twenty-fifth anniversary, especially of a wedding.
- Examples
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Mostly, these have been relationships of 10 or less years. However, one respondent has celebrated her silver wedding anniversary.
Premium, but inferior to gold.
Usage- of commercial services
Pertaining or relating to elderly persons.
Having the clear, musical tone of silver; soft and clear in sound.
- Examples
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a silver-voiced young girl
Verb
To acquire a silvery colour.
- Examples
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More examples (2)
Presently all the eastern sky began to silver and shine, and objects before invisible in the west—chiefly the tall towers on Mount Zion—emerged as from a shadowy depth, [...]
But when the moon rose and the breeze awakened, and the sedges stirred, and the cat's-paws raced across the moonlit ponds, and the far surf off Wonder Head intoned the hymn of the four winds, the trinity, earth and sky and water, became one thunderous symphony—a harmony of sound and colour silvered to a monochrome by the moon.
To cover with silver, or with a silvery metal.
- Examples
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to silver a pin; to silver a glass mirror plate with an amalgam of tin and mercury
More examples (1)
The first attempts to silver the five-foot were made with the process already mentioned, great care being taken to filter all the solutions before use; but the film was always full of pinholes through particles lying on the surface, although the mirror was kept in motion during the whole time.
To polish like silver; to impart a brightness to, like that of silver.
- Examples
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For here retir'd the ſinking billows ſleep, / And ſmiling calmneſs ſilver'd o'er the deep.
To make hoary, or white, like silver.
- Examples
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Remote from cities liv'd a Swain, / Unvex'd with all the cares of gain, / His head was ſilver'd o'er with age, / And long experience made him ſage; [...]
Adjective
made from or largely consisting of silver
- Examples
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silver bracelets
having the white lustrous sheen of silver
- Examples
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a land of silver (or silvern) rivers where the salmon leap
repeated scrubbings have given the wood a silvery sheen
of lustrous grey; covered with or tinged with the color of silver
- Examples
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silvery hair
expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively
- Examples
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able to dazzle with his facile tongue
silver speech
Noun
a soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal; occurs in argentite and in free form; used in coins and jewelry and tableware and photography
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
coins made of silver
- Broader terms
a light shade of grey
silverware eating utensils
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
a trophy made of silver (or having the appearance of silver) that is usually awarded for winning second place in a competition
- Synonyms
Verb
coat with a layer of silver or a silver amalgam
- Broader terms
- Examples
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silver the necklace
make silver in color
- Examples
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Her worries had silvered her hair
turn silver
- Examples
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The man's hair silvered very attractively