floss

floss
floss (n.) "rough silk," 1759, perhaps from Fr. floche "tuft of wool" (16c.), from O.Fr. floc "tuft, lock," from L. floccus "tuft of wool." Or from an unrecorded O.E. or O.N. word from the root found in Du. flos "plush" (17c.). Cf. the surname Flossmonger, attested 1314, which might represent a direct borrowing from Scandinavian or Low German. In "The Mill on the Floss" the word is the proper name of a fictitious river in the English Midlands.

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • floss — [flôs, fläs] n. [earlier also flosh < Fr floche, downy, woolly (in soie floche, floss silk), ult. < L floccus: see FLOCCUS] 1. the rough silk covering a silkworm s cocoon 2. the short, downy waste fibers of silk 3. a soft, loosely twisted… …   English World dictionary

  • Floss — (?; 195), n. [It. floscio flabby, soft, fr. L. fluxus flowing, loose, slack. See {Flux}, n.] 1. (Bot.) The slender styles of the pistillate flowers of maize; also called {silk}. [1913 Webster] 2. Untwisted filaments of silk, used in embroidering …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • floss|y — «FLS ee, FLOS », adjective, floss|i|er, floss|i|est. 1. of floss. 2. like floss. 3. Informal, Figurative. fancy; …   Useful english dictionary

  • Floss — Floss, n. [Cf. G. floss a float.] 1. A small stream of water. [Eng.] [1913 Webster] 2. Fluid glass floating on iron in the puddling furnace, produced by the vitrification of oxides and earths which are present. [1913 Webster] {Floss hole}. (a) A… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • FLOSS — FLOSS, village in Bavaria, Germany. In 1685 a group of Jewish cloth merchants received a charter to settle and build on an unoccupied hill. Four houses were built in 1687 and the Jewish colony (juedische Kolonie), as it was called then, had 12… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • floss — ► NOUN 1) the rough silk enveloping a silkworm s cocoon. 2) untwisted silk fibres used in embroidery. 3) (also dental floss) a soft thread used to clean between the teeth. ► VERB ▪ clean between (one s teeth) with dental floss. ORIGIN Old French… …   English terms dictionary

  • Floss — may refer to: * Embroidery thread, machine or hand spun yarn for embroidery * Dental floss, used to clean teethComputing* Free and open source software, Free/Libre/Open Source Software …   Wikipedia

  • floss — floss·er; floss; …   English syllables

  • Floss — fishing mortality corresponding to an expected lifetime contribution to the spawning stock biomass for the average recruit to the fishery (SSB/R) equal to the inverse of R/SSB at the lowest observed spawning stock (LOSS) …   Dictionary of ichthyology

  • FLOSS — Die Begriffe Free/Libre Open Source Software bzw. Free and Open Source Software und ihre Akronyme FLOSS bzw. FOSS sind hybride Begriffe für Freie Software und Open Source Software. Die Begriffe werden häufig genutzt, um den nicht gelösten… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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