web

The silken structure which a spider builds using silk secreted from the spinnerets at the caudal tip of its abdomen; a spiderweb.

Proper noun

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Web: the World Wide Web.
    • Let me search the web for that.
    • No, the web probably isn't addictive in the sense that nicotine or heroin are; no, Facebook and Twitter aren't guilty of "killing conversation" or corroding real-life friendship or making children autistic. - 2013 May...

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *webʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *webaną Proto-Germanic *wabją Old English webb Middle English web English web From Middle English web, webbe, from Old English webb, from Proto-West Germanic *wabi, from Proto-Germanic *wabją (“web”), from Proto-Germanic *webaną (“to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”). Cognates Cognate with Scots wab (“web”), North Frisian wääb (“web”), Saterland Frisian Wäb (“web”), West Frisian and Dutch web (“web”), Danish væv (“web”), Faroese vevur (“web”), Icelandic vefur (“web”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk vev (“web”), Swedish väv (“web”); also Cornish goghi (“wasps”), Irish foich, foiche, puch (“wasp”), Welsh gwchi (“drone”), Latin vespa (“wasp”), Ancient Greek ὑφή (huphḗ, “web”), ὑφαίνω (huphaínō, “to weave”) (whence Greek ανυφαίνω (anyfaíno), υφαίνω (yfaíno, “to weave”)), Albanian vej (“to...

Forms

the web

Noun

  1. The silken structure which a spider builds using silk secreted from the spinnerets at the caudal tip of its abdomen; a spiderweb.
    • The sunlight glistened in the dew on the web.
  2. Any interconnected set of persons, places, or things, which, when diagrammed, resembles a spider's web.
    • The time of his birth, his birth-place, his parentage, are all involved in obscurity; and such has been the perplexing ingenuity of commentators, that it is difficult to extricate the truth from the web of conjectures...
    • [T]he blame must rest on the sombre spirit of our forefathers, who wove their web of life with hardly a single thread of rose-color or gold, and not on me, who have a tropic-love of sunshine, and would gladly gild all...
    • "But THAT! Was the OLDEN TIMES! A massive, worldwide web of global information has ENTANGLED THE WORLD! People in Beijing can read about a magical incident in Moperville in seconds, and have video of it in minutes!" -...
  3. The part of a baseball mitt between the forefinger and thumb, the webbing.
    • He caught the ball in the web.
  4. A latticed or woven structure.
    • The gazebo’s roof was a web made of thin strips of wood.
    • The colonists were forbidden to manufacture any woollen, or linen, or cotton fabrics ; not a web might be woven, not a shuttle thrown, on penalty of exile. - 1866, George Bancroft, “New Netherland”, in History of the...
  5. A tall tale with more complexity than a myth or legend.
    • Careful—she knows how to spin a good web, but don't lean too hard on what she says.
    • a tangled web of deception

    Synonyms: yarn

  6. A plot or scheme.
  7. The interconnection between flanges in structural members, increasing the effective lever arm and so the load capacity of the member.
  8. The thinner vertical section of a railway rail between the top (head) and bottom (foot) of the rail.

    Coordinate Terms: head foot

  9. A fold of tissue connecting the toes of certain birds, or of other animals.
  10. The series of barbs implanted on each side of the shaft of a feather, whether stiff and united together by barbules, as in ordinary feathers, or soft and separate, as in downy feathers.
  11. A continuous strip of material carried by rollers during processing.
  12. A long sheet of paper which is fed from a roll into a printing press, as opposed to individual sheets of paper.

Forms

webs

Hyponyms

cobweb food web interweb spiderweb subweb

Derived

break the web cosmic web crankweb dark web deep web deep-web funnel web funnel-web funnel-web spider intellectual dark web invisible web nursery web spider orb-web spider progressive web app progressive web application spider in the web doctrine spider's web spider web spider-web surface web Sydney funnel-web spider tangled web visible web web address

Verb

  1. To construct or form a web.
  2. To cover with a web or network.
    • The canker worm has no shelter upon the tree, but lies out upon the leaf or branch ; this forms itself a house by webbing the corner of a leaf, into which it retreats on the first appearance of danger[…] - 1853 June 21,...
    • In the meantime continents were being ribbed with railways, the atmosphere was being webbed with telegraph wires connecting every important commercial centre[…] - 1895, “Has Gold Risen?”, in The Forum, volume XVIII, New...
  3. To ensnare or entangle.
  4. To provide with a web.
  5. To weave.
    • Item that the Wever whiche shall have the wevyng of eny wollen yerne to be webbed into cloth shall weve werk[…] - 1511–12, “An Act agaynst deceyptfull making of Wollen Cloth”, in The Statures of the Realm, volume III,...

Forms

webs webbing webbed