<B>silent, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>quiet; still; noiseless. <BR> <I>Ex. a silent house, the silent hills.</I> (SYN) hushed. <DD><B> 2. </B>not speaking; saying little or nothing. <BR> <I>Ex. Pupils must be silent in the study hour. He was silent about his early life. Ulysses ... was the most eloquent and the most silent of men (William Broome).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>performed, made, suffered, or otherwise done or endured, in silence or without speaking; not spoken; not said out loud. <BR> <I>Ex. a silent prayer, silent agony, silent opposition, a silent movie.</I> (SYN) unspoken, unsounded. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) not active or operative; quiescent. <BR> <I>Ex. a silent volcano.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>omitting mention of something, as in a narrative. <BR> <I>Ex. An event has happened, upon which it is difficult to speak, and impossible to be silent (Edmund Burke).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(of a letter in spelling) not representing a sound. <BR> <I>Ex. The "b" in "dumb" is silent.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>silents,</B> motion pictures without recorded and synchronized sounds. <BR> <I>Ex. He confined his moviegoing to Charlie Chaplin silents (Atlantic).</I> adv. <B>silently.</B> noun <B>silentness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="silentbutler">
<B>silent butler,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a boxlike or bowllike container with a handle and hinged top, into which crumbs may be brushed, ashtrays emptied, or the like. </DL>
<A NAME="silentiary">
<B>silentiary, </B>noun, pl. <B>-aries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who practices or advocates silence, especially from religious motives. <DD><B> 2. </B>an official appointed to enforce silence, as in a public assembly. </DL>
<A NAME="silentlegesinterarma">
<B>silent leges inter arma,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Latin.) laws are silent in the midst of war. </DL>
<A NAME="silentmajoritarian">
<B>Silent Majoritarian,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a member of the Silent Majority. </DL>
<A NAME="silentmajority">
<B>Silent Majority</B> or <B>silent majority,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Especially U.S.) the politically nonvocal section of the population that is believed to constitute the majority of Americans. <BR> <I>Ex. One political columnist saw the typical member of this silent majority as a suburbanite or small-town dweller who was deeply disturbed by high prices and taxes, crime in the streets, political demonstrations and violence (Steven V. Roberts).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>any nonvocal majority. <BR> <I>Ex. I detect a feeling among the silent majority of MPs on both sides ... that the government has done the right thing (Tam Dalyell).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="silentpartner">
<B>silent partner,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a partner in a business who has no share in managing the business. </DL>
<A NAME="silentservice">
<B>silent service,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) submarines and their crews, as a part of the U.S. Navy or sometimes any navy. </DL>
<A NAME="silentsystem">
<B>silent system,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a system of prison discipline that imposes complete silence on the prisoners. </DL>
<A NAME="silenttreatment">
<B>silent treatment,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a deliberate attitude of silence and unfriendliness toward a person as a way of showing disapproval or scorn. <BR> <I>Ex. The class decided to give the bully the silent treatment.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="silentvote">
<B>silent vote,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the collective vote of those who take no avowed part in a campaign. <DD><B> 2. </B>the vote represented by the number of persons qualified to vote, but who do not vote. </DL>
<A NAME="silenus">
<B>Silenus, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek Mythology.) a minor woodland deity, the foster father and companion of Dionysus and leader of the satyrs. He is represented as a short, stout, bald, drunken old man. </DL>
<A NAME="silenus">
<B>silenus, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ni.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek Mythology.) <DD><B> 1. </B>any of various minor deities of the forests, resembling the satyrs. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=satyr.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="silesia">
<B>silesia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a fine, light, smooth cotton or linen cloth used for lining. </DL>
<A NAME="silesian">
<B>Silesian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with Silesia, a region of central Europe, now included in Czechoslovakia and Poland. <DD><I>noun </I> a native or inhabitant of Silesia. </DL>
<A NAME="silex">
<B>silex, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>flint; silica. <DD><B> 2. </B>a strong glass that is mostly quartz and resists heat. </DL>
<A NAME="silex">
<B>Silex, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Trademark.) a coffee maker made of silex glass. </DL>
<A NAME="silhouette">
<B>silhouette, </B>noun, verb, <B>-etted,</B> <B>-etting.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an outline portrait cut out of a black paper or drawn and filled in with some single color. <DD><B> 2. </B>a dark image outlined against a lighter background. <BR> <I>Ex. the cat's dark silhouette on the wall (John Greenleaf Whittier).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the contour, as of a garment or figure. <BR> <I>Ex. The slim silhouette gained over the full-skirted silhouette in women's daytime clothes (Helen C. Wells).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to show in outline. <BR> <I>Ex. The mountain was silhouetted against the sky.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>in silhouette,</B> </I>in outline or profile, especially in black against a white background. <BR> <I>Ex. This framing of the trees, which stand out in silhouette against a bright blue sky (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="silhouettist">
<B>silhouettist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a maker of silhouettes. </DL>
<A NAME="silica">
<B>silica, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a common mineral, silicon dioxide, a hard, white or colorless substance. In the form of quartz, it enters into the composition of many rocks and is contained in sponges and certain plants. Flint, sand, opal, and chalcedony are forms of silica. </DL>
<A NAME="silicagel">
<B>silica gel,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a type of colloidal silica, resembling coarse sand, used as an adsorbent in air conditioners and petroleum refining. </DL>
<A NAME="silicaglass">
<B>silica glass,</B> =quartz glass.</DL>
<A NAME="silicate">
<B>silicate, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a compound containing silicon with oxygen and a metal; a salt of silicic acid. Silicates constitute the greater number of the minerals that compose the crust of the earth. Mica, garnet, talc, asbestos, and feldspar are silicates. </DL>
<A NAME="silicated">
<B>silicated, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> coated, mixed, combined, or impregnated with silica. <BR> <I>Ex. silicated complexion soap.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="silicatization">
<B>silicatization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the process of combining with silica so as to change to a silicate. </DL>
<A NAME="siliceous">
<B>siliceous</B> or <B>silicious, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>containing or consisting of silica; resembling silica. <BR> <I>Ex. Paleolithic stone tools were made by chipping or flaking hard siliceous (glasslike) materials like flint, quartzite, and obsidian (Beals and Hoijer).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>growing best or solely in soil containing much silica. </DL>
<A NAME="silicic">
<B>silicic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>containing silicon or silica. <BR> <I>Ex. The more volatile or acidic or silicic constituents of the fluid rock beneath the surface may have concentrated in the original uplifts (Scientific American).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of or obtained from silicon or silica. </DL>
<A NAME="silicicacid">
<B>silicic acid,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various weak acids obtained from silicon. </DL>
<A NAME="silicide">
<B>silicide, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a compound of silicon and another element or radical. </DL>
<A NAME="siliciferous">
<B>siliciferous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> yielding or containing silica; united with silica. </DL>
<A NAME="silicification">
<B>silicification, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> conversion into silica. </DL>
<A NAME="silicifiedwood">
<B>silicified wood,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> wood so impregnated or replaced by silica that it has become quartz or opal. </DL>
<A NAME="silicify">
<B>silicify, </B>verb, <B>-fied,</B> <B>-fying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> to convert into or impregnate with silica. <BR> <I>Ex. The walnut kernels are ... a golden brown in color and perfectly silicified (Scientific American).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to become siliceous. </DL>
<A NAME="silicium">
<B>silicium, </B>noun. =silicon.</DL>
<A NAME="silicle">
<B>silicle, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) a short, broad silique, as in shepherd's-purse. </DL>
<A NAME="silicon">
<B>silicon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a nonmetallic chemical element found only combined with other elements, chiefly with oxygen in silica. Next to oxygen, silicon is the most abundant element in nature and occurs in amorphous and crystalline forms. The crystalline form is much used in the manufacture of steel as a deoxidizing and hardening agent. </DL>
<A NAME="siliconcarbide">
<B>silicon carbide,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a substance that is almost as hard as diamond, used in grinding metals, beveling glass, in polishing powders and other abrasives, and as a semiconductor in transistors. </DL>
<A NAME="silicondioxide">
<B>silicon dioxide,</B> =silica.</DL>
<A NAME="silicone">
<B>silicone, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an organic compound in which silicon has replaced some of the carbon. Noted for their stability and their ability to resist extremes of heat and cold, silicones are used for lubricants, varnishes, and insulators. <BR> <I>Ex. Silicones are fluids and resins that keep clothes and shoes and brick walls dry in the rain (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="siliconerubber">
<B>silicone rubber,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a rubber made of oxygen and silicon that can keep its rubberlike properties at much higher and lower temperatures than natural rubber or any other type of synthetic rubber. Silicon rubber is used in such products as seals, gaskets, and other parts of machinery exposed to high temperatures. </DL>
<A NAME="siliconize">
<B>siliconize, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to combine, or cause to combine, with silicon. </DL>
<A NAME="silicosis">
<B>silicosis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a disease of the lungs caused by continually breathing air filled with dust from quartz or silicates, formerly common among certain types of workers, such as stonecutters. </DL>
<A NAME="silicotic">
<B>silicotic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> having to do with, causing, or suffering from silicosis. <DD><I>noun </I> a person having silicosis. </DL>
<A NAME="silicula">
<B>silicula, </B>noun, pl. <B>-lae.</B> =silicle.</DL>
