SIL'VER, n.

1. Made of silver; as, a silver cup.
2. White like silver; as, silver hair. – Shak. Others on silver lakes and rivers bath'd / Their downy breast. – Milton.
3. White or pale; of a pale luster; as, the silver moon.
4. Soft; as, a silver voice or sound. [Italian, suono argentino.] – Spenser. Shak.

1. A metal of a white color and lively brilliancy. It has neither taste nor smell; its specific gravity is 10.552, according to Bergman, but according to Kirwan it is less. A cubic foot weighs about 660 lbs. Its ductility is little inferior to that of gold. It is harder and more elastic than tin or gold, but less so than copper, platinum, or iron. It found native in thin plates or leaves, or in fine threads, or it is found mineralized by various substances. Great quantities of this metal are furnished by the mines of South America, and it is found in small quantities in Norway, Germany, Spain, the United States, &c. – Kirwan. Encyc.
2. Money; coin made of silver.
3. Any thing of soft splendor. Pallas – piteous of her plaintive cries, / In slumber clos'd her silver-streaming eyes. – Pope.

1. To cover superficially with a coat of silver; as, to silver a pin or a dial-plate.
2. To foliate; to cover with tinfoil amalgamated with quick-silver; as, to silver glass.
3. To adorn with mild luster; to make smooth and bright. And smiling calmness silver'd o'er the deep. – Pope.
4. To make hoary. His head was silver'd o'er with age. – Gay.

1. A soft white metallic element, sonorous, ductile, very malleable, and capable of a high degree of polish. It is found native, and also combined with sulphur, arsenic, antimony, chlorine, etc., in the minerals argentite, proustite, pyrargyrite, ceragyrite, etc. Silver is one of the "noble" metals, so-called, not being easily oxidized, and is used for coin, jewelry, plate, and a great variety of articles. Symbol Ag (Argentum). Atomic weight 107.7. Specific gravity 10.5.
   
   

   * Silver was known under the name of luna to the ancients and also to the alchemists. Some of its compounds, as the halogen salts, are remarkable for the effect of light upon them, and are used in photography.

2. Of or pertaining to silver; made of silver; as, silver leaf; a silver cup.
3. To cover with silver] to give a silvery appearance to by applying a metal of a silvery color; as, to silver a pin; to silver a glass mirror plate with an amalgam of tin and mercury.
4. To acquire a silvery color.
   
   
   [R.]

   The eastern sky began to silver and shine. L. Wallace.

5. Coin made of silver; silver money.
6. Resembling silver.
   
   
   Specifically: (a)
7. To polish like silver; to impart a brightness to, like that of silver.
   
   

   And smiling calmness silvered o'er the deep. Pope.

8. Anything having the luster or appearance of silver.
9. To make hoary, or white, like silver.
   
   

   His head was silvered o'er with age. Gay.

10. The color of silver.
    
    

    * Silver is used in the formation of many compounds of obvious meaning; as, silver-armed, silver-bright, silver-buskined, silver-coated, silver-footed, silver-haired, silver-headed, silver-mantled, silver-plated, silver-slippered, silver-sounding, silver-studded, silver-tongued, silver-white. See Silver, a.

    Black silver (Min.), stephanite; -- called also brittle silver ore, or brittle silver glance. -- Fulminating silver. (Chem.) (a) A black crystalline substance, Ag₂O.(NH₃)₂, obtained by dissolving silver oxide in aqua ammonia. When dry it explodes violently on the slightest percussion. (b) Silver fulminate, a white crystalline substance, Ag₂C₂N₂O₂, obtained by adding alcohol to a solution of silver nitrate. When dry it is violently explosive. -- German silver. (Chem.) See under German. -- Gray silver. (Min.) See Freieslebenite. -- Horn silver. (Min.) See Cerargyrite. -- King's silver. (O. Eng. Law) See Postfine. -- Red silver, or Ruby silver. (Min.) See Proustite, and Pyrargyrite. -- Silver beater, one who beats silver into silver leaf or silver foil. -- Silver glance, or Vitreous silver. (Min.) See Argentine.