silk gland

noun

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

a

: either of a pair of greatly enlarged and modified salivary glands of an insect larva that produce a compound filament from which a larval or pupal cover (such as a cocoon) is spun

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

Examples of silk gland in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

High salt content and low acidity in the silk gland and spinning duct keep the proteins liquid, while reduced salt and increased acidity make the proteins link together rapidly during spinning. —Amy Barth, Discover Magazine, 9 Dec. 2010

The versatile fiber is made from a mixture of complex proteins in the spider's silk gland and dispensed at quite a clip--an individual spider can produce up to 100 yards of silk a day--from its spinnerets. —Discover Magazine, 29 June 2010

Hayashi has collected spider silk glands of about 50 species, just a small dent in the more than 48,000 spider species known worldwide. —Washington Post, 19 Aug. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1870, in the meaning defined above