Word of the Day: Gossamer

/ɡäsəmər/, noun: 1. a very light or delicate material; insubstantial, “The true reformer does not want time, nor money, nor cooperation, nor advice. What is time but the stuff delay is made of? And depend upon it, our virtue will not live on the interest of our money. He expects no income, but outgoes; so soon as we begin to count the cost, the cost begins. And as for advice, the information floating in the atmosphere of society is as evanescent and unserviceable to him as gossamer for clubs of Hercules.” Henry David Thoreau 2. a fine thread or film of cobwebs or filament floating in air during calm clear weather, And you O my soul where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O, my soul. (6-10). Walt Whitman, A Noiseless Patient Spider 3. adjective: extremely light, delicate or tenuous. “A trip to the moon on gossamer wings.” Cole Porter