ETYM Old Eng. silver, selver, seolver, AS. seolfor, siolfur, siolufr, silofr, sylofr; akin to OS. silubar, OFries. selover, Dutch zilver, LG. sulver, Old High Germ. silabar, silbar, German silber, Icel. silfr, Swed. silfver, Dan. sölv, Goth. silubr, Russ. serebro, Lith. sidabras; of unknown origin.
1. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal; occurs in argentite and in free form; used in coins, jewelry, tableware and photography; SYN. Ag, atomic number 47.
2. Coins made of silver.
White, lustrous, extremely malleable and ductile, metallic element, symbol Ag (from Latin argentum), atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.868. It occurs in nature in ores and as a free metal; the chief ores are sulfides, from which the metal is extracted by smelting with lead. It is one of the best metallic conductors of both heat and electricity; its most useful compounds are the chloride and bromide, which darken on exposure to light and are the basis of photographic emulsions.
Silver is used ornamentally, for jewelry and tableware, for coinage, in electroplating, electrical contacts, and dentistry, and as a solder. It has been mined since prehistory; its name is an ancient non-Indo-European one, silubr, borrowed by the Germanic branch as silber.

ETYM See Silver (n.).
1. To coat with a layer of silver or a silver amalgam.
2. To make silver in color.
3. To turn silver, as of hair.

1. Having the white lustrous sheen of silver; SYN. silvern, silvery.
2. Made from or largely consisting of silver