silver n DC ~ (Nfld: 1771, 1956) for sense 1; for combs. in sense 2: DC ~ fir 1 (1775-); fox 1 (1770-); ~ frost Maritimes (1828-), ~ hair (1861).
1 The red fox (Vulpes fulvus), in a colour variation with black fur interspersed with silver-grey ends.
[1771] 1792 CARTWRIGHT i, 91 I went down the river, where I observed ... a brace of silvers. 1907 WALLACE 15 Good silvers are worth five hundred dollars cash in St John's. 1916 GRENFELL 27 Before night the whole three were safely home, and all the village knew that Tom Marvin had caught a silver. P 148-64 Silvers [are] grey foxes—we gets lots of money for these furs.
2 Comb silver fir: balsam fir (Abies balsamea).
[1775] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 58 [Porcupine] feed on nothing but rinds the whole winter ... they prefer the silver-fir to all others. [1784] 1971 BANKS 444 Almost all kinds of garden stuff will grow there [Nain, or Nuninock] in very great perfection, but corn, I believe, will not ripen though it grows and ears well and no Pines, but Spruces, Silver Fir, Larch, Birch and Aspin. All grow large. 1861 DE BOILIEU 214 The trees I mostly observed were the black, white, and red spruce, larch, silver-fir, birch and aspen.
silver fox: see sense 1 above.
[1770] 1792 CARTWRIGHT i, 76 On Niger Sound we saw a good silver fox. 1792 ibid Gloss i, xv ~ A blackfox, with white king-hairs dispersed on the back of it. 1905 DAVEY 42 The white, red, blue, and so-called 'silver' foxes are hunted for their skins, which command a good price in the European Market. 1956 CAMERON 27 The 'silver fox' is black with a white-tipped tail and a sprinkling of white hairs along the middle of the back.
silver frost: coating of ground, vegetation, etc, with ice, owing to precipitation at the freezing point; GLITTER, SILVER THAW.
1832 MCGREGOR i, 129 A phenomenon appears frequently during winter, known by the appellation of silver frost. When a fine misty rain takes place ... the moment it rests on any substance, it adheres and freezes, incrusting every tree, shrub, or whatever else is exposed to the weather, with ice.
silver hair (fox): see sense 1 above.
1861 DE BOILIEU 76 Of the fox there are several species on the coast, but the valuable breed known as 'silver-hairs' are scarce. T 100/2-64 You get nine an' ten hundred dollars for a black fox. An' get about the same for a silver hair. T 391/3-67 But no ice foxes comes up now. Never see ne'er one. 'Tis all dark foxes now, red an' silver hairs. M 71-44 He was a wonderful man for catching fox, and he wanted to catch this fox one time, silver haired fox.
silver jar: ringed seal (Phoca hispida); see JAR1.
1977 Inuit Land Use 255 Then there's another lot of jar; they're all small, same ring—silver jars. They're way out—you get a lot at the sina [floe edge].
silver thaw: see SILVER THAW.
