Byss (&?;), n. See Byssus, n., 1.
Bys*sa"ceous (&?;), a. [From Byssus.] (Bot.) Byssuslike; consisting of fine fibers or threads, as some very delicate filamentous algæ.
Bys*sif"er*ous (&?;), a. [Byssus + -ferous.] Bearing a byssus or tuft.
Bys"sin (&?;), n. See Byssus, n., 1.
Bys"sine (&?;), a. [L. byssinus made of byssus, Gr. by`ssinos See Byssus.] Made of silk; having a silky or flaxlike appearance. Coles.
Bys"soid (&?;), a. [Byssus + - oid.] Byssaceous.
Bys"so*lite (&?;), n. [Gr.&?; See flax + - lite.] (Min.) An olive-green fibrous variety of hornblende.
||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. (Zoöl.) 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.