Definition of "velvety"

In August, the large masses of berries, which, when in flower, had attracted many wild bees, gradually assumed their bright velvety crimson hue, and by their weight again bent down and broke the tender limbs.

1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Sounds”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, pages 124–125

"The humble dung-beetle was at least a fact. All this psychic stuff is not." "No doubt you have good grounds for your views," chirped the mischievous Millworthy, a mild youth with a velvety manner.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

Through the velvety wind V-winged / To the nest's nook I balance and buoy / With a sweet joy of a sweet joy, / Sweet, of a sweet, of a sweet joy / Of a sweet—a sweet—sweet—joy.

1918, Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The Woodlark”, in Robert Bridges, editor, Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins: Now First Published […], London: Humphrey Milford, page 85

As he came down the huge velvety paws caught him as gently as a mother’s arms and set him (right way up, too) on the ground.

1951, C. S. Lewis, chapter 11, in Prince Caspian, Collins, published 1998

Tangier was washed in a velvety bluish twilight.

1964, Elie Wiesel, The Town Beyond the Wall (1962), translated by Stephen Becker, New York: Atheneum, 1964, p. 104

By now it was dark, velvety dark with a moon, a darkness pinpricked by the lights from the landing place now drawing rapidly closer.

1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 144

In the demanding aria “Casta diva,” Ms. Meade sang Bellini’s ornately embellished phrases with velvety legato; climactic high points in the flowing melody soared over the orchestra, elegantly conducted by Joseph Colaneri.

2017 December 7, Anthony Tommasini, “Review: Listening at the Met, After James Levine”, in New York Times‎