A cloth of exceedingly fine texture, used by the ancients. It is disputed whether it was of cotton, linen, or silk.
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.
An obsolete name for certain fungi composed of slender threads.
tough, thread-like fibres issuing from between the valves for temporary attachment of the shell.
bys'sus (Gr Byssos=a fine flax) The fine fibers, or bundle of silky threads secreted by a gland found in the foot of some bivalves by which they attach themselves permanently to rocks or other solid objects; the bundle of fibrous, tough conchiolin strands secreted by the foot of some bivalves, passing out of the anterior end of the shell and use to secure the animal to a substrate.
tuft of strong filaments by which e.g. a mussel makes itself fast to a fixed surface
a mass of filaments which the mussel uses to attach itself to a surface
rope like strands by which mussels anchor themselves to a solid surface
Byssus, plural byssuses, derives from Hebrew būṣ 'fine linen,' Aramaic bus, Greek βίσσος – 'a very fine yellowish flax and the linen woven from it', Latin byssus – 'fine cotton or cotton stuff', 'silk' and via New Latin to 'sea silk'.