抽絲

to spin silk

to draw out / to pull out from in between / to remove part of the whole / (of certain plants) to sprout or bud / to whip or thrash

silk / thread / trace / (cuisine) shreds or julienne strips / CL:條|条[tiao2] / classifier: a thread (of cloud, smoke etc), a bit, an iota, a hint (of sth) etc

lit. to spin silk from cocoons / fig. to make a painstaking investigation (idiom)

sickness comes like a landslide, but goes slowly like spinning silk (idiom); expect to convalesce slowly