Word.ws English Dictionary

gossamere

gossamere is the obsolete form of gossamer.

Meaning of gossamer

Noun

gossamer (countable and uncountable, plural gossamers)

  1. A fine film made up of cobwebs, seen floating in the air or caught on bushes, etc.
    • A lover may bestride the gossamer / That idles in the wanton summer air, / And yet not fall; so light is vanity.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  2. A soft, sheer fabric.
    • Madame wiped the picture with her gossamer handkerchief and impulsively pressed a tender kiss upon the painted canvas.1894, Kate Chopin, “A Lady of Bayou St. John”, in Bayou Folk, Boston, Mass.: Houghton, Mifflin, page 306
  3. (figuratively) Anything delicate, light and flimsy.

See all 4 meanings of gossamer

Questions about gossamere

What is gossamere the obsolete form of?
Gossamere is the obsolete form of gossamer.

Words near gossamere in the dictionary

  1. gossamer spider
  2. gossamer spiders
  3. gossamer-thin
  4. gossamer-winged butterflies
  5. gossamer-winged butterfly
  6. gossamere
  7. gossamered
  8. gossamerlike
  9. gossamers
  10. gossamery
  11. gossampine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gossamere (page history and authors); gossamer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “gossamere.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gossamere. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.