It's the word of the day for October 4th.

Today's word is Gossamer, spelled G-O-S-S-S-N-G-S-N-G-S-N-G-S-N-G-S-N-G-S-A-M-E-R.

G-O-S-A-E-R-G-M-E-R-G-M-E-R-S-E-R is an adjective.

Something described as gossamer, such as a butterfly wing or a thin fabric is very light or delicate.

Here's the word used in a sentence from the New Yorker by Rachel Sime.

At the bookstore the crowd was largely made up of teenagers, many of whom had dawned costumes, gossamer pink tutus,

and oversized hairbows that evoked Marie Antoinette's style.

Centuries before its breezy emergence as an adjective, meaning extremely light or delicate,

the word gossamer was used as a noun.

It came to our language by way of Middle English, where the word Gossamer literally meant

Goose Summer, and referred to a period of mild weather in late autumn or early winter.

Gossamer was also used in middle English as a word for filmy cobwebs floating through

the air in calm clear weather, possibly because somebody thought the webs looked like the

down of a goose goose or because that mild period was when they tended to notice the spider silk wafting.

This sense eventually inspired the adjective, Gossamer, which describes things that are as light or delicate as cobwebs.

The noun form of Gossamer is still floating around.

It has held onto its middle English predecessors meaning of a film of cobwebs

and can also refer to something that is light, delicate, or insubstantial,

as in a thread of gossamer.

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokoloski.

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