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velvet

Pronunciation: /ˈvɛlvɪt/

The English word “velvet” has 13 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A closely woven fabric (originally of silk, now also of cotton or man-made fibres) with a thick short pile on one side.
  2. Very fine fur, including the skin and fur on a deer's antlers.
  3. A female chinchilla; a sow.
  4. The drug dextromethorphan.
  5. Money acquired by gambling.

verb

  1. To cover with velvet or with a covering of a similar texture.
  2. To coat raw meat in starch, then in oil, preparatory to frying.
  3. To remove the velvet from a deer's antlers.
  4. To soften; to mitigate.
  5. to retract.

adjective

  1. Made of velvet.
  2. Soft and delicate, like velvet; velvety.
  3. Peaceful; carried out without violence; especially as pertaining to the peaceful breakup of Czechoslovakia.

Etymology

From Middle English velvet, velwet, veluet, from Old Occitan veluet, from Vulgar Latin *villutittus, diminutive of villūtus, from Latin villus (“shaggy hair, tuft of hair”). Cognate with French velours.

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