Hypertext Webster Gateway: "byssus"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Byssus \Bys"sus\, n.; pl. E. {Byssuses}; L. {Byssi}.[L. byssus
fine flax, fine linen or cotton, Gr. by`ssos .]
1. A cloth of exceedingly fine texture, used by the ancients.
It is disputed whether it was of cotton, linen, or silk.
[Written also {byss} and {byssin}.]
2. (Zo["o]l.) A tuft of long, tough filaments which are
formed in a groove of the foot, and issue from between the
valves of certain bivalve mollusks, as the {Pinna} and
{Mytilus}, by which they attach themselves to rocks, etc.
3. (Bot.) An obsolete name for certain fungi composed of
slender threads.
4. Asbestus.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
byssus
n : tuft of strong filaments by which e.g. a mussel makes itself
fast to a fixed surface [syn: {beard}]
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