velvet

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velvet

  • /ˈvɛlvɪt/ UK
  • /ˈvɛlvɪt/ US

Where it comes from

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.

noun velvets

  1. countable, uncountable A closely woven fabric (originally of silk, now also of cotton or man-made fibres) with a thick short pile on one side. For the first time since her husband's death, she had thrown off her weeds, and put on attire more suited to the occasion. She was richly, yet plainly dressed, in a purple velvet, with a hood of white point lace. Even her silent handmaids were surprised out of their ordinary propriety by her appeara
  2. countable, uncountable Very fine fur, including the skin and fur on a deer's antlers. His [a hart's] head when it commeth firſt out, hath a ruſſet pyll vpon it, the which is called Veluet, […]
  3. countable, rare A female chinchilla; a sow.
  4. slang, uncountable The drug dextromethorphan.
  5. slang, uncountable Money acquired by gambling.

verb velvets · velveting · velveted

  1. To cover with velvet or with a covering of a similar texture. Penmachno mill is situate where a stream has furrowed a deep channel, and velveted the rocks with the richest mosses […].
  2. To coat raw meat in starch, then in oil, preparatory to frying. Blanching cut and specially marinated chicken in oil or water prior to stir-frying is a technique common to Chinese restaurant kitchens. The 20-second bath tenderizes the chicken remarkably, hence the process has been dubbed "velveting" in English. Velveted chicken is half-cooked, will not stick to
  3. To remove the velvet from a deer's antlers. 2014, "Top genetic selection produces biggest antlers," NZFarmer.co.nz, 12 July, 2014, http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/10255646/Top-genetic-selection-produces-biggest-antlers Reacting to painkillers when velveted, Sovereign II was too sick to grow antlers last year, but has sinc
  4. figuratively, transitive To soften; to mitigate. She spoke very gently, full of compassion for the boy, velveting her reproach for me.
  5. of a cat's claws to retract.

adjective more velvet · most velvet

  1. Made of velvet.
  2. Soft and delicate, like velvet; velvety. The fawn then rose up, and creeping gently about the room, touched the cheeks or hands of the slumbering inmates with its velvet tongue, but so softly that none were awakened.
  3. Peaceful; carried out without violence; especially as pertaining to the peaceful breakup of Czechoslovakia. What at the time of the initial agreement of Yeltsin, Shushkevich and Kravchuk to join together in a new 'Commonwealth of Independent States' had seemed like a reconstitution of the lands of ancient Rus, quickly turned out to be, in the words of the leading Russian-Ukrainian reformer Aleksandr Tsipk

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: velvety, smooth, soft, chenille, corduroy, kid, white, pile, color, scoter, bloodless, moderate, peaceful, satin, plushy, plush

Translations

Every language

noun fabric

Españolterciopelo, velludo, veludo, velludillo, veludillo
한국어벨벳 belbet, 우단 udan
日本語ベルベット berubetto, ビロード birōdo
中文絲絨 /丝绒 sīróng, 天鵝絨 /天鹅绒 tiān'éróng
हिन्दीमख़मल maxmal
Kiswahilimahameli
Portuguêsveludo
Françaisvelours
DeutschSamt
Italianovelluto
Ελληνικάβελούδο veloúdo
Românăcatifea
Русскийба́рхат bárxat, вельве́т velʹvét, аксами́т aksamít, велю́р veljúr
Tiếng Việtnhung
العربيةمُخْمَل muḵmal, قَطِيفَة qaṭīfa, خمل ḵaml
עבריתקְטִיפָה k'tifá

noun fine fur

日本語角袋 tsunobukuro
Françaisduvet, velours (on antlers)
Русскийпух pux, пушо́к pušók

verb to remove the velvet from a deer's antlers

Deutsch(das Geweih) fegen, verfegen

verb to soften, to mitigate

Deutschmildern

verb to retract (cat's claws)

Deutschdie Krallen einziehen

adj made of velvet

Русскийба́рхатный bárxatnyj

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Cite this
MLA

"velvet." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/velvet. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

velvet. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/velvet

Chicago

"velvet." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/velvet.

BibTeX
@misc{velvet_2026,
  title = {velvet},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/velvet},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}