tussar

English

Alternative forms

• tussah, tusseh, tusser, tussor, tussore

Etymology

From Hindi तसर (tasar), from Sanskrit तसर (tasara, “shuttle”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtʌsə/

Noun

tussar (countable and uncountable, plural tussars)

1. A deep gold-coloured silk produced from larvae of several species of silk worms belonging to the moth genus Antheraea
   • 1841, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal‎^[1], Volume 10, Part 2, p. 511:

     The principal manufacture throughout this district is the tusser or jungle silk.

   • 1863, Peter Lund Simmons, editor, The Technologist: A Monthly Record of Science Applied to Art, Manufacture, and Culture‎^[2], volume III, London: Kent & Co., page 111:

     The Tusseh silk is pretty well known in the English market; it is supplied by a large moth measuring five and a-half to six inches from wing to wing, the Antheræa paphia of Linnæus: The silk is strong and coarse, of a flax-brown colour.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter IX, in Capricornia‎^[3], New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, pages 143–4:

     She wore a black lustre skirt that just exposed her broken button-boots, a white blouse topped heavily with moth-eaten lace, a long coat of well-worn tusser, and a purplish black silk hat […]

   • 1996, Manju Kak, “The Collector”, in Requiem for an Unsung Revolutionary and Other Stories‎^[4], Delhi: Ravi Dayal, page 165:

     The carpets were rich with colour and design, the sofas were covered in silks and tussars […]

   • 2008, Nicholas Storey, History of Men's Fashion: What the Well-Dressed Man is Wearing‎^[5], Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Remember When, page 99:

     […] one could very well have such a jacket made out of tussore (or tussar) which is unbleached raw silk produced by the larvae of the moth Antheraea paphia.

2. Any of the moth species used to produce tussar silk
   • 1980, Lalita Prasad Vidyarthi, The Kharia, Then and Now: A Comparative Study of Hill, Dhelki, and Dudh Kharia of the Central-eastern Region of India‎^[6], Concept Publishing, page 197:

     Kharias have also learnt to prepare certain fibres for different purpose as they are expert in spinning, weaving, tussar rearing […]

   • 2006, Shankarlal C. Bhatt, Land and People of Indian States and Union Territories: In 36 Volumes‎^[7], volume 15, Madhya Pradesh, page 289:

     In order to strengthen the rearing of tusser worms, extensive plantation of Saja and Arjun plants will be undertaken by the forest department.

   • 2015, Judith MacKenzie, The Intentional Spinner: A Holistic Approach to Making Yarn‎^[8], Adams Media:

     Tussah moths are harder to raise than Bombyx moths, which have been selected for thousands of years for domestication.

Derived terms

• Sri Lankan tussar silk moth

 

Anagrams

• Asturs, Rastus, Straus, Surats, Sūtras, Tarsus, surats, sutras, sūtras, tarsus

Swedish

Noun

tussar

1. indefinite plural of tuss

Verb

tussar

1. present indicative of tussa

Anagrams

• rustas, surast