velvet
UK/ˈvɛlvɪt//ˈvɛlvɪt/
velvet noun: a closely woven fabric (originally of silk, now also of cotton or man-made fibres) with a thick short pile on one side.
Noun
velvet (countable and uncountable, plural velvets)
- 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...1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 206–207
- She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace,[…]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […] all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
- 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, […]1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, “Of the Termes of Venery”, in George Gascoigne, transl., The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot, published 1611, →OCLC, page 244
- A female chinchilla; a sow.
- The drug dextromethorphan.
- Money acquired by gambling.
Verb
velvet (third-person singular simple present velvets, present participle velveting, simple past and past participle velveted)
- 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 […].1834, Edward Price, Norway. Views of Wild Scenery: and Journal, London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., Part I, p. 16
- Last week the scaffolds were up in the hall once more. This time the back wall is to be velveted in absorbent fiber glass […]1963 September 6, “Childe Harold in New York”, in Time
- 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...1982, Barbara Tropp, The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking, Morrow, published 1982, page 137
- To remove the velvet from a deer's antlers.
- Reacting to painkillers when velveted, Sovereign II was too sick to grow antlers last year, but has since recovered.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
- To soften; to mitigate.
- She spoke very gently, full of compassion for the boy, velveting her reproach for me.2006, Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale
- to retract.
Adjective
velvet (comparative more velvet, superlative most velvet)
- Made of velvet.
- 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.1878, John Beauchamp Jones, Wild Western Scenes, page 125
- the cowslip's velvet head1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey...
- 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...1995, Amin Saikal, William Maley, Russia in Search of Its Future, page 214
- The disintegration always took place within internal borders, whether it was velvet, as in the case of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, or bloody, like Yugoslavia's still unfinished break-up.2006, The Analyst: Central and Eastern European Review
velvet meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
velvet in Hindi
- fabric
- मख़मल maxmal
velvet in Tamil
- மென்பட்டுத்துணி, வெல்வெற்று, சூரியகாந்திப்பட்டு, வெல்வெட்
velvet in Marathi
- velvet
- मखमल makhmal
velvet in Urdu
- fabric
- مخمل maxmal
More languagesFewer languages
- velvet in Bengali
- মখমল mokhmol
- velvet in Telugu
- వెల్వెట్, వెల్వెట్కు
- velvet in Malayalam
- സൂര്യകാന്തിപ്പട്ട്, സൂര്യപടം, വെൽവെറ്റു തുണി
- velvet in Kannada
- ವೆಲ್ವೆಟ್, ವೆಲ್ವೆಟ್ಗೆ
- velvet in Punjabi
- ਮਖਮਲ makhmal
- velvet in Gujarati
- મખમલ makhmal
- velvet in Odia
- ମଖମଲୀ, ମଖମଲ, ମଖମାଳି
- velvet in Nepali
- मखमल, मखमली, मखमलमा
- velvet in Pashto
- بخمل baxmál, مخمل maxmál
- velvet in Tagalog
- pelus
- velvet in Arabic
- مُخْمَل muḵmal, قَطِيفَة qaṭīfa, خمل ḵaml
- velvet in Malay
- baldu, beledu
- velvet in Indonesian
- beludru
- velvet in Persian
- مخمل maxmal
- velvet in Thai
- กำมะหยี่ gam-má-yìi
- velvet in Vietnamese
- nhung
- velvet in Myanmar
- ကတ္တီပါ kattipa
Examples of velvet in a sentence
- She was richly, yet plainly dressed, in a purple velvet, with a hood of white point lace.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 206–207:
- The 20-second bath tenderizes the chicken remarkably, hence the process has been dubbed "velveting" in English.1982, Barbara Tropp, The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking, Morrow, published 1982, page 137:
- If the Sudanese can resolve the final steps in a velvet divorce and move in a more democratic direction, that will serve as a heartening "ideal model of change" […]2011, David Gillies, Elections in Dangerous Places: Democracy and the Paradoxes of Peacebuilding, page 248:
- There is such a thing as a velvet divorce: if Canada or Belgium were to split apart, the consequences would be unfortunate but manageable.2014, Dana H. Allin, NATO's Balkan Interventions, page 97:
Forms of velvet
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | velvets |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | velvets |
| present participle | velveting |
| past participle | velveted |
| past | velveted |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more velvet |
| superlative | most velvet |
Origin of velvet
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.
Words formed from velvet
- beggars' velvet
- black velvet
- cotton velvet
- crushed velvet
- Florida velvet bean
- on velvet
- pink velvet cake
- poor man's black velvet
- purple velvet plant
- red velvet
- red-velvet cake
- red velvet cake
- red velvet mite
- slashed velvet
- stand on velvet
- tip someone's velvet
- Utrecht velvet
- velveret
- velvet ant
- velvet antler
- velvet ash
- velvet bean
- velvetbreast
- velvet cichlid
- velvet cork
- velvet crab
- velvet divorce
- velvet duck
- velveteen
- velvetfish
- velvet flower
- velvet glove
- velvetgrass
- velvet handcuffs
- velvet hippo
- velvetleaf
- velvet leatherjacket
- velvetlike
- velvetmallow
- velvet noise
- velvet paper
- velvet pile
- Velvet Revolution
- velvetry
- velvet scoter
- velvetseed
- velvet shank
- velvet spider
- velvet tamarind
- velvet tree
- velvet water bug
- velvetweed
- velvet work
- velvet worm
- velvety
Phrases with velvet
- velvet ants
- velvet ashes
- velvet beans
- velvet crabs
- velvet ducks
- velvet piles
- velvet worms
- velvet hippos
- velvet papers
- velvet shanks
- velvet antlers
- velvet flowers
20 more phrasesFewer phrases
- velvet scoters
- velvet spiders
- stood on velvet
- velvet cichlids
- velvet divorces
- red velvet cakes
- red velvet mites
- stands on velvet
- pink velvet cakes
- velvet water bugs
- indigo velvet worm
- standing on velvet
- Velvet Revolutions
- indigo velvet worms
- Florida velvet beans
- purple velvet plants
- tips someone's velvet
- velvet leatherjackets
- tipped someone's velvet
- tipping someone's velvet
Questions about velvet
- What does velvet mean?
- Velvet means a closely woven fabric (originally of silk, now also of cotton or man-made fibres) with a thick short pile on one side.
- What is velvet in Hindi?
- Velvet in Hindi is मख़मल (maxmal). See Velvet meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use velvet in a sentence?
- She was richly, yet plainly dressed, in a purple velvet, with a hood of white point lace.
- What part of speech is velvet?
- Velvet can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce velvet?
- Velvet is pronounced /ˈvɛlvɪt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of velvet?
- The plural of velvet is velvets.
Words near velvet in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: velvet (page history and authors); velvet (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); मखमल (Marathi) (page history and authors); velvet (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); velvet (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); velvet (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); મખમલ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); velvet (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); velvet (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-velvet.ogg.
Cite this entry: “velvet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/velvet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.