Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of numerous arachnids of the order Araneae, having a body divided into a cephalothorax and an abdomen, eight legs, two chelicerae that bear venom glands, and two or more spinnerets that produce the silk used to make nests, cocoons, or webs for trapping insects.
- noun One that resembles a spider, as in appearance, character, or movement.
- noun A program that automatically retrieves webpages and follows the links on them to retrieve more webpages. Spiders are used by search engines to retrieve publicly accessible webpages for indexing, and they can also be used to check for links to webpages that no longer exist.
- noun A trivet.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In the English form of pyramid-pool billiards, a skeleton rest, or bridge, designed for certain exigencies.
- noun In archery, a prize for the best gold, awarded at the Grand National Archery meeting in England.
- noun An arthropod of the order Araneæ, Araneina, or Araneida (the old Linnean genus Aranea), of the class Arachnida, of which there are many families, hundreds of genera, and thousands of species, found all over the world.
- noun Some other arachnidan, resembling or mistaken for a spider; a spider-mite. See
red-spider . - noun A spider-crab; a sea-spider.
- noun A cooking-utensil having legs or feet to keep it from contact with the coals: named from a fancied resemblance to the insect—the ordinary frying-pan is, however, sometimes erroneously termed a spider.
- noun A trivet; a low tripod used to support a dish, or the like, in front of a fire.
- noun In machinery:
- noun A skeleton of radiating spokes, as a rag-wheel.
- noun The internal frame or skeleton of a gear-wheel, for instance, on which a cogged rim may be bolted, shrunk, or cast.
- noun The solid interior part of a piston, to which the packing is attached, and to whose axis the piston-rod is secured.
- noun Nautical, an iron outrigger to keep a block clear of the ship's side.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of arachnids comprising the order Araneina. Spiders have the mandibles converted into poison fangs, or falcers. The abdomen is large and not segmented, with two or three pairs of spinnerets near the end, by means of which they spin threads of silk to form cocoons, or nests, to protect their eggs and young. Many species spin also complex webs to entrap the insects upon which they prey. The eyes are usually eight in number (rarely six), and are situated on the back of the cephalothorax. See
Illust. underaraneina . - noun (Zoöl.) Any one of various other arachnids resembling the true spiders, especially certain mites, as the red spider (see under
Red ). - noun An iron pan with a long handle, used as a kitchen utensil in frying food. Originally, it had long legs, and was used over coals on the hearth.
- noun A trevet to support pans or pots over a fire.
- noun (Mach.) A skeleton, or frame, having radiating arms or members, often connected by crosspieces; as, a casting forming the hub and spokes to which the rim of a fly wheel or large gear is bolted; the body of a piston head; a frame for strengthening a core or mold for a casting, etc.
- noun (Zoöl.) Same as Solitary ant, under
Solitary . - noun (Zoöl.) any one of numerous species of maioid crabs having a more or less triangular body and ten long legs. Some of the species grow to great size, as the great Japanese spider crab (
Macrocheira Kempferi ), measuring sometimes more than fifteen feet across the legs when they are extended. - noun (Zoöl.) any one of numerous species of parasitic dipterous insects of the family
Hippoboscidæ . They are mostly destitute of wings, and live among the feathers of birds and the hair of bats. Called alsobird tick , andbat tick . - noun (Zoöl.) any one of several species of East Indian sunbirds of the genus Arachnothera.
- noun filaments of a spider's web crossing the field of vision in optical instruments; -- used for determining the exact position of objects and making delicate measurements. Fine wires, silk fibers, or lines on glass similarly placed, are called
spider lines . - noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous small mites injurious to plants.
- noun (Zoöl.) any one of numerous species of South American monkeys of the genus Ateles, having very long legs and a long prehensile tail.
- noun (Bot.) a European orchidaceous plant (
Ophrys aranifera ), having flowers which resemble spiders. - noun (Zoöl.) any shell of the genus Pteroceras. See
Pteroceras .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of various eight-legged, predatory
arthropods , of the orderAraneae , most of which spinwebs to catch prey. - noun Internet A program which follows links on the
World Wide Web in order to gather information. - noun A
float (drink) made by mixingice-cream and asoda orfizzy drink (such aslemonade ). - noun slang A spindly person.
- noun slang A man who persistently approaches or
accosts a woman in a public social setting, particularly in a bar. - noun snooker, billiards A stick with a convex arch-shaped notched head used to support the
cue when thecue ball is out of reach at normal extension; abridge . - noun cooking A cast-iron frying pan with three legs, once common in open hearth cookery. They were generally called spiders both in England and in America.
- noun A part of a
crank , to which thechainrings are attached - noun slang
Heroin (street drug). - noun music Part of a
resonator instrument that transmits string vibrations from thebridge to a resonator cone at multiple points. - verb Internet, of a computer program to follow links on the
World Wide Web in order to gather information.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a computer program that prowls the internet looking for publicly accessible resources that can be added to a database; the database can then be searched with a search engine
- noun a skillet made of cast iron
- noun predatory arachnid with eight legs, two poison fangs, two feelers, and usually two silk-spinning organs at the back end of the body; they spin silk to make cocoons for eggs or traps for prey
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"The spider," it is said, "taketh hold with her hands, and is in king's palaces;" and should a man have less perseverance than a _spider?
Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers Henry Rowe Schoolcraft 1828
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You know very well that even the word spider freaks me out.
Beacon Street Girls: Lake Rescue Annie Bryant 2008
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You know very well that even the word spider freaks me out.
Beacon Street Girls: Lake Rescue Annie Bryant 2008
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With limbs and tails splayed out in the canopy, the monkeys often look as though they have five limbs - thus the name spider monkey.
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Surprisingly, the term spider is American in origin, according to both sides of the Atlantic: The Dictionary of Americanisms (1951) and The Oxford Dictionary agree.
Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2008
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This spider is about the size of a Black Widow in body length, has a leg span of 20-30 millimeters (1 inch) and has a violin-shaped marking on its back.
Spider Bites 2010
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Little Miss Muffet, a spider drops down next to her so naturally the spider is the evil one and Miss Muffet is the victim, lets feel sorry for her.
Art Appreciation Moment of the Day: J. Scott Campbell | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News 2009
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After that, we set up what we call a spider site, a website, and leaked it to certain persons that were close to Patrick to see if we could get a reaction from them or how they would react.
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A new report by Swiss senator Dick Marty says the CIA orchestrated what he calls a spider web of transfer sites throughout Europe with secret detention centers in Poland and Romania.
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A new report by Swiss senator Dick Marty says the CIA orchestrated what he calls a spider web of transfer sites throughout Europe with secret detention centers in Poland and Romania.
zaggan commented on the word spider
i love spiders!(as long as they are not on me)
May 26, 2009
knitandpurl commented on the word spider
"She got friendly with a few decent-looking blokes who took her to the flicks at the Piccadilly or the Capitol and then shouted her a milkshake or a spider before putting her on the bus home."
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, p 280 of the Graywolf Press hardcover edition
April 3, 2010
knitandpurl commented on the word spider
"In Australia and New Zealand, however, an ice cream soda is often called a spider."
April 3, 2010
alexz commented on the word spider
in cycling, it's the part between the crank and chainring . it's called a spider because it has 4 or 5 legs from the central point.
January 12, 2013
beccadiane12 commented on the word spider
Hello My Dear! how are you i am interested to be your good friend can you please send me an mail to my mail box so that i can tell you about me and give you my pic ( beccadd15@yahoo.com )
i will be waiting you in my mailbox ok.
January 13, 2013