silvery

See also: silver Y

English

Etymology

From Middle English silvery, sylvyry; equivalent to silver +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlvəɹi/, /ˈsɪlvɹi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Adjective

silvery (comparative silverier, superlative silveriest)

1. Resembling silver in color, shiny white.
   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:

     OF all th' enamell'd race, whose silvery wing / Waves to the tepid zephyrs of the spring.

   • 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 98:

     Nothing was to be seen save flat meadows, cows feeding unconcernedly for the most part, and silvery pollard willows motionless in the warm sunlight.

   • 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:

     Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.

2. Sprinkled or covered with silver.
3. Having the clear, musical tone of silver; soft and clear in sound.

   a silvery laugh

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     The hand grasped the curtain, and drew it aside, and as it did so I heard a voice, I think the softest and yet most silvery voice I ever heard.

Synonyms

• silvern (archaic)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• silvery acacia
• silvery-cheeked antshrike
• silvery flying fox (Pteropus melanopogon)
• silvery gade
• silvery gibbon (Hylobates moloch)
• silvery gull
• silvery-haired
• silvery hair-grass (Aira caryophyllea)
• silvery hair-tail
• silvery honeysuckle (Grevillea striata)
• silvery marmoset
• silvery oak (Grevillea robusta)
• silvery pomfret
• silvery pout (Gadiculus argenteus)
• silvery salmon
• silvery sedge
• silvery shrew mole
• silvery-tongued
• silvery-white

Translations

resembling silver

• Arabic: لُجَيْن (ar) (lujayn)
• Basque: zilarkara
• Bulgarian: сребрист (bg) (srebrist)
• Catalan: argentat (ca)
• Czech: stříbrný (cs), stříbřitý
• Esperanto: arĝenta sg
• French: argenté (fr)
• Georgian: ვერცხლისებრი (vercxlisebri), ვერცხლისებრივი (vercxlisebrivi), ვერცხლისებური (vercxliseburi)
• German: silbrig (de), silberig (de)
• Hungarian: ezüstös (hu)
• Irish: airgeadúil
• Italian: argenteo (it), argentato (it)
• Latin: argenteus (la)
• Plautdietsch: selwrich
• Polish: srebrzysty (pl)
• Portuguese: prateado (pt)
• Romani: rupalo
• Romanian: argintiu (ro)
• Russian: серебри́стый (ru) (serebrístyj)
• Spanish: plateado (es), argénteo (es), argentino (es)
• Swedish: silvrig (sv)
• Welsh: ariannaidd (cy)
• Yiddish: זילבערדיק (zilberdik), זילבערן (zilbern)

clear and musical in tone

• Bulgarian: ясен (bg) (jasen), звънлив (bg) (zvǎnliv)
• Catalan: argentí (ca)
• Esperanto: arĝentsona sg
• French: argentin (fr)
• German: silberhell, silbrig (de), silbern (de)
• Italian: argentino (it)
• Polish: srebrzysty (pl)
• Portuguese: argentino (pt)
• Spanish: argénteo (es), argentino (es), argentado (es)

Anagrams

• slivery