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SILKWORM
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The commercially bred hairless white caterpillar of the domestic silkworm moth which spins a cocoon that can be processed to yield silk fiber; the principal source of commercial silk
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("silkworm" is a kind of...):
caterpillar (a wormlike and often brightly colored and hairy or spiny larva of a butterfly or moth)
Meronyms (parts of "silkworm"):
sericterium; serictery; silk gland (silk-producing gland of insects (especially of a silkworm) or spiders)
Holonyms ("silkworm" is a member of...):
Bombyx; genus Bombyx (type genus of the Bombycidae: Chinese silkworm moth)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Larva of a saturniid moth; spins a large amount of strong silk in constructing its cocoon
Synonyms:
giant silkworm; silkworm; wild wilkworm
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Hypernyms ("silkworm" is a kind of...):
caterpillar (a wormlike and often brightly colored and hairy or spiny larva of a butterfly or moth)
Meronyms (parts of "silkworm"):
sericterium; serictery; silk gland (silk-producing gland of insects (especially of a silkworm) or spiders)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "silkworm"):
ailanthus silkworm; Samia cynthia (large green silkworm of the cynthia moth)
Holonyms ("silkworm" is a member of...):
family Saturniidae; Saturniidae (important and widely distributed family of moths including some of the largest insects known)