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spider definition

spi·der (spī′dər)

noun

  1. any of an order (Araneae) of small, chiefly land arachnids having a body composed of a cephalothorax bearing the legs and an abdomen bearing two or more pairs of spinnerets that spin the silk threads from which are made nests, cocoons for the eggs, or webs for trapping insects
  2. ☆ a cast-iron frying pan, orig. one with legs for use on a hearth
  3. any of various devices or frameworks with several leglike extensions

Etymology: ME spithre < OE spithra < *spinthra < spinnan, to spin

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

business spider definition - business

hacker Spider definition - hacker

medical spider definition - medical

spider Synonyms

spider

n.

arachnid, spinner, harvestman, daddy longlegs.

Common spiders include: tarantula, black widow, garden, diadem, grass, trapdoor, crab, water, bird, brown, hermit, wolf, jumping, burrowing, hunting, violin back, brown recluse, daddy longlegs, harvestman.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

spider Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • funnel: Funnel web spiders have a flat web with a tunnel at one side where the spider lurks.

Preposition: in

  • closet: Mark If homophobia is a sign of closet homosexuality, is arachnophobia a sign of being a spider in a closet?

Adjective modifier

  • venomous: Ereshkigal's words crawled over Ishtar like a venomous spider.

Modifies a noun

  • mite: Maintain humidity to avoid red spider mite by damping down with the hosepipe.

Noun used with modifier

  • tarantula: I owned a tarantula spider until it went to the big cobweb in the sky a few years ago.
spider usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

spider quotes

   What brought the kindred spider to that height, Then steered the white moth thither in the night? What but design of darkness to appall?ö If design govern in a thing so small.

-Frost, Robert Lee

   Spider, spider, spin Your register and let me sleep a little, Not now in order to end but to begin The task begun so often.

-MacNeice, (Frederick) Louis

The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! Feels at each thread, and lives along the line.

-Pope, Alexander

spider quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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"spider." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/spider>

APA Style

spider. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/spider

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