Cobweb definition

kŏbwĕb
cobwebbed cobweb cobwebs
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Frequency:
A web spun by a spider, esp. one spun indoors that has gathered dust.
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An intricate plot; a snare.

Caught in a cobweb of espionage and intrigue.

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To cover with or as if with cobwebs.
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Something resembling the web of a spider in gauziness or flimsiness.
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Confusion; disorder.

Cobwebs on the brain.

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The web spun by a spider to catch its prey.
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A single thread spun by a spider.
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A single thread of such a web.
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Anything flimsy, gauzy, or ensnaring, like the web of a spider.
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To cover with or as with cobwebs.
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From the Middle English coppeweb, meaning spider web. Coppe is an abbreviation of the Old English attercoppe, meaning poison head. In contemporary usage, an abandoned spider web. This definition has absolutely nothing to do with telecommunications, except for the fact that I noticed a cobweb in my office while I was writing this book, and I was compelled to research the term. (It was one more diversionary tactic of mine. The alternatives were load coil, SMDS, and ytterbium.) See also World Wide Web (WWW).
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A spiderweb, or the remains of one, especially an asymmetrical one that is woven with an irregular pattern of threads.
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One of its filaments; gossamer.
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(figuratively) Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; rubbish.
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(Internet) A web page that either has not been updated for a long time, or that is rarely visited.
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The European spotted flycatcher.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
cobweb
Plural:
cobwebs

Origin of cobweb

  • Middle English coppeweb coppe spider (short for attercoppe) (from Old English āttercoppe) (ātor poison) (copp head) web web web

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From the Middle English coppeweb, from coppe (“spider”), from attercoppe, from Old English āttercoppe, from ātor (“poison”) + copp (“head”) + web (“web”)

    From Wiktionary

Cobweb Sentence Examples

  • This expriest, this disillusioned Jacobin and skilful spinner of cobweb constitutions, enjoyed for a time the chief reputation in France.

  • Cobweb Houseleek (Sempervivum Arachnoideum) - One of the most singular of alpine plants, with tiny rosettes of fleshy leaves covered at the top with a thick white down, which intertwines itself all over the leaves like a spiders web.

  • Bare boughs from the trees weave a cobweb of branches against the pale wintry sky.

  • According to Simon Jenkins in the Times, Gordon Brown and I sit at the heart of a " vast cobweb " of targets.

  • It looks like the beginning of a spider's cobweb, hence the name of this approach.

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