Word of the Day

: October 4, 2024

gossamer

adjective GAH-suh-mer

What It Means

Something described as gossamer—such as a butterfly wing or a thin fabric—is very light or delicate.

// Except for a few gossamer clouds, the sky was clear and blue.

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gossamer in Context

"At the bookstore, the crowd was largely made up of teen-agers, many of whom had donned costumes: gossamer pink tutus and oversized hair bows that evoked Marie Antoinette's style...." — Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2024

Did You Know?

Centuries before its breezy emergence as an adjective meaning "extremely light or delicate," gossamer was used as a noun. It came to our language by way of Middle English, where gossomer (literally "goose summer") referred to a period of mild weather in late autumn or early winter. Gossomer was also used in Middle English as a word for filmy cobwebs floating through the air in calm, clear weather, possibly because somebody thought the webs looked like the down of a goose or because that mild period was when they tended to notice the spider silk wafting. This sense eventually inspired the adjective gossamer, which describes things that are as light or delicate as cobwebs. The noun form of gossamer is still floating around: it has held onto its Middle English predecessor’s meaning of "a film of cobwebs" and can also refer to something that is light, delicate, or insubstantial, as in "a thread of gossamer."