01 n. A cloth of exceedingly fine texture, used by the ancients. It is disputed whether it was of cotton, linen, or silk.
pl.
Byssuses, Byssi
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1.
A cloth of exceedingly fine texture, used by the ancients. It is disputed whether it was of cotton, linen, or silk.
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2.
A tuft of long, tough filaments which are formed in a groove of the foot, and issue from between the valves of certain bivalve mollusks, as the Pinna and Mytilus, by which they attach themselves to rocks, etc.(Zool.)
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3.
An obsolete name for certain fungi composed of slender threads.(Bot.)
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4.
Asbestus.