silk gland

noun

silk-producing gland of insects (especially of a silkworm) or spiders

• Syn: ↑serictery, ↑sericterium

• Hypernyms: ↑gland, ↑secretory organ, ↑secretor, ↑secreter

• Part Holonyms: ↑silkworm, ↑giant silkworm, ↑wild wilkworm

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noun

: a gland that produces a viscid fluid which is extruded in filaments and on exposure to air hardens into silk: as

a. : either of a pair of greatly enlarged modified salivary glands of an insect larva that extend backward along the sides of the body and produce a compound filament from which is spun a larval or pupal cover (as a cocoon)

b. : any of two or more abdominal glands of a spider that open through spinnerets and produce a filament used chiefly in the spinning of webs

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any of several glands, as in various insects and spiders, that secrete a viscid protein substance which hardens into silk on contact with air.

[1865-70]

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silk gland noun

A gland (at a silkworm's mouth, on a spider's abdomen) from which silk is spun

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Main Entry: ↑silk

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silk gland,

any gland which secretes the substance of silk, as in the silkworm or silk spider; sericterium.

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n. a gland in a silkworm, spider, or other arthropod that secretes the substance that hardens as threads of silk or web