—n.
1 a filmy substance of small spiders' webs.
2 delicate filmy material.
3 a thread of gossamer.
—adj. light and flimsy as gossamer.
Derivatives:
gossamered adj. gossamery adj.
Etymology: ME gos(e)somer(e), app. f. GOOSE + SUMMER(1) (goose summer = St Martin's summer, i.e. early November when geese were eaten, gossamer being common then)
Useful english dictionary. 2012.