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more about byssus
byssus |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Byssus \Bys"sus\, n.; pl E. {Byssuses}; L. {Byssi}.[L. byssus fine flax, fine linen or cotton, Gr by`ssos .] 1. A cloth of exceedingly fine texture, used by the ancients. It is disputed whether it was of cotton, linen, or silk. [Written also {byss} and {byssin}.] 2. (Zo["o]l.) 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 3. (Bot.) An obsolete name for certain fungi composed of slender threads. 4. Asbestus. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: byssus n : tuft of strong filaments by which e.g. a mussel makes itself fast to a fixed surface [syn: {beard}]
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