velvet

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A closely woven fabric (originally of silk, now also of cotton or man-made fibres) with a thick short pile on one side.

   For the first time since her husband's death, she had thrown off her weeds, and put on attire more suited to the occasion. She was richly, yet plainly dressed, in a purple velvet, with a hood of white point lace. Even her silent handmaids were surprised out of their ordinary propriety by her appearance.

2. 2
   noun

   Very fine fur, including the skin and fur on a deer's antlers.

   His [a hart's] head when it commeth firſt out, hath a ruſſet pyll vpon it, the which is called Veluet, […].

3. 3
   verb

   To cover with velvet or with a covering of a similar texture.

   Penmachno mill is situate where a stream has furrowed a deep channel, and velveted the rocks with the richest mosses […].

4. 4
   verb

   To coat raw meat in starch, then in oil, preparatory to frying.

   Blanching cut and specially marinated chicken in oil or water prior to stir-frying is a technique common to Chinese restaurant kitchens. The 20-second bath tenderizes the chicken remarkably, hence the process has been dubbed "velveting" in English. Velveted chicken is half-cooked, will not stick to the pan, and needs almost no oil when stir-fried.

From Middle English velvet, velwet, veluet, from Old Occitan veluet, from Vulgar Latin *villutittus, diminutive of villūtus, from Latin villus (“shaggy hair, tuft of hair”). Cognate with French velours.

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