tarantula

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“
Yet I have known homes where the tarantula was an honoured, if not a petted, lodger.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Any of various large, hairy, chiefly tropical spiders of the family Theraphosidae, capable of inflicting a painful but not seriously poisonous bite.
  2. noun A large wolf spider (Lycosa tarentula) of southern Europe, once thought to cause tarantism.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Your talent sets you apart: if you were a toad or a tarantula, even then, people would respect you, for to talent all things are forgiven. —  Letters of Anton Chekhov
  • Animals have advice for you about these two insects: 'If you see a scorpion or a tarantula, above all, you must stay calm! —  IGN Complete
  • Hobbies I have a chili rose tarantula, about 4 years old, female. —  Answerbag: Latest Questions in Question Categories
  • Soon enough it is obvious that the tarantula is not alone, with lots of other creatures scurrying about, including a scorpion. —  Vooks RSS Feed
  • My tarantula was crossing county road G19 in southern Monterey County, California. —  Grist - the Latest from Grist
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This word has been looked up 86 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Medieval Latin, from Old Italian tarantola, after Taranto .

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Also tarentula; = French tarentule = Spanish tarántula = Portuguese tarantula, from Italian tarantola, a large spider so called, whose sting, in popular superstition, produced a disease, called tarantism, which could be cured only by music or dancing; also applied to a lizard or serpent, and to a fish; from Taranto, from Latin Tarentum, from Greek Tαρας (Ταραντ-), Tarentum, a town in the south of Italy.
 

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/tæˈræntʃjulə/
by American Heritage

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