| 释义 |
▪ I. spider, n.|ˈspaɪdə(r)|
Forms: 1 spiþra, 4 spiþre, 5 spiþer(e, spither, spyther; 5–7 spyder, 6– spider (7 spidar).
[OE. spíþra (Saxon Leechd. II. 142):—*spinþra, f. spinnan spin v.
In the obscure passage in Saxon Leechd. III. 42 the reading of the MS. is spiden (not spider) wiht.]
1. a. One or other of the arachnids belonging to the insectivorous order Araneidæ, many species of which possess the power of spinning webs in which their prey is caught.
The cunning, skill, and industry of the spider, as well as its power of secreting or emitting poison, are frequently alluded to in literature. The various species or groups of spiders are freq. denoted by some distinguishing word, as bird-catching, crab-, cross-, diadem-, garden-, house-, jumping-, mason-, sedentary, spinning, trap-door-, wall-, wandering spider, etc.: see these words.
1340Ayenb. 164 And þe greate niedes of þe wordle him þingþ ase naȝt, and þeruore hise ne prayzeþ naȝt bote ase þe web of þe spiþre. 1398Trevisa Barth. De. P.R. xviii. liv. (Bodl. MS.), Þis formicalion..is a manere kinde of spiþeres. c1440Wycliffite Bible Job viii. 14 His trist schal be as a web of spiþers [v.rr. yreyns, areyns; earlier version attercoppis]. c1440Promp. Parv. 140/2 Eranye, or spyder, or spynnare. 1480Caxton Myrr. ii. xv. 101 The spyther or spyncop. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 54 How the vyne of grace..shold be kepte,..that neyther beestes, wormes, ne spiders come therto. 1592Greene Repent. R. Greene Wks. (Grosart) XII. 180 They with the spider sucke poison out of the most pretious flowers. 1665in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 244 The house..being horidly nasty,..the spiders are redy to drope into my mouthe. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 361 Or Secret Moaths are there in Silence fed; Or Spiders in the Vault their snary Webs have spred. 1727–46Thomson Summer 269 The window..where, gloomily retir'd, The villain spider lives, cunning, and fierce, Mixture abhorr'd! 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. vi. 51 In case..any fly or spider should fall into the wine. 1828Lytton Pelham xx, Because rogues are like spiders, and eat each other, when there is nothing else to catch. 1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. v. ii. 262 In hot climates, Spiders are able to produce..a certain amount of local pain. 1896tr. Boas' Text Bk. Zool. 283 The Spiders may be distinguished from other Arachnida by the separation of the cephalothorax from the abdomen by a deep constriction.
b. In allusive use.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 121 Here in her haires The Painter plaies the Spider, and hath wouen A golden mesh t'intrap the hearts of men. 1894M. Dyan Man's Keeping (1899) 310 There was too much of the alluring spider and giddy fly business in the arrangement.
c. Applied to persons as an opprobrious or vituperative term.
1568T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 58 For spightfull spiders spare not, For curious carpers care not. 1579Lodge Reply Gosson 35 From the same flower..whence the Spyder (I mean the ignorant) take their poison. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 242 Why strew'st thou Sugar on that Bottel'd Spider, Whose deadly Web ensnareth thee about? 1602Narcissus 1893 577 Dare you vse mee thus to my face, spidar? 1638Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. Concl. 410 If you were ten times more a spider then you are, you could suck no poyson from them. 1798Southey To a Spider iii. Poet. Wks. 1837 II. 180 Hell's huge black Spider, for mankind he lays His toils, as thou for flies. 1821–2Shelley Chas. I, iv. 16 Realms..beyond the shot of tyranny, Beyond the webs of that swoln spider. 1898‘Merriman’ Roden's Corner i. 3 In such a shop..there is always a human spider lurking in the background, who steals out upon any human fly that may pause to look at the wares.
†d. to swallow a spider, to go bankrupt. Obs.
1670Ray Prov. 194 He hath swallowed a spider, i.e. plaid the bankrupt.
e. electrical spider (see quot.).
1842Francis Dict. Arts, Sci., etc. s.v., Electrical Spider, a small ball of pith, cut of the size, and into the form of a spider, suspended by a long filament of silk, and with eight linen thread legs.
2. a. Applied, usually with distinguishing term, to other allied species of Arachnida resembling spiders in appearance; esp. the harvest-spider; a spider-mite. See also red spider, sea spider.
1665Hooke Microgr. 198 The Carter, Shepherd Spider, or long-legg'd spider. 1688Holme Armoury ii. x. 215/2 The long legged Spider of the Garden, or Field. 1806Shaw Gen. Zool. VI. ii. 473 To this genus [Phalangium] belong those well known insects called long-legged, shepherd, or harvest Spiders. 1818Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxiii. (ed. 2) II. 307 Octopods..including the tribes of mites (Acaridæ); spiders (Araneidæ); long-legged spiders (Phalangidæ); and scorpions. 1848[see long-legged a.].
b. (See quot.)
1863Couch Brit. Fishes II. 43 The fishes of the genus Trachinus..have from an early date obtained for themselves a formidable reputation under the names of Spiders and Sea Dragons.
c. A spider-crab.
1853T. Bell Brit. Stalk-eyed Crustacea 42 Like all the other triangular Crustacea, the fishermen inveterately term it [sc. the spinous spider-crab] ‘spider’.
d. A species of artificial fly used in angling; a hackle-fly.
1857W. C. Stewart Pract. Angler v. 81 Spiders dressed of very soft feathers are more suitable for fishing up than for fishing down.
3. a. A kind of frying-pan having legs and a long handle; also loosely, a frying-pan. Orig. U.S.
1807in Austin Papers (1924) I. i. 132, 2 Spiders with Covers. 1830Galt Lawrie T. iii. xii. (1849) 125 A judicious selection of spiders and frying-pans. 1842Whittier in Pickard Life (1895) I. 278 Like fishes dreaming of the sea, And waking in the spider. 1869Mrs. Whitney We Girls vi, It is slopping and burning, and putting away with a rinse, that makes kettles and spiders untouchable.
b. U.S. A trivet or tripod; a griddle.
1875in Knight Dict. Mech.
4. Austr. slang. A drink consisting of lemonade and brandy or similar ingredients, mixed; a soft drink with ice-cream floating in it.
1854Argus (Melb.), They asked us what we would have to drink; we had a spider each. 1859K. Cornwallis New World I. 300 Shandy-gaff, or spiders,—the latter to clear their throats of flies as they said. 1859Fowler Southern Lights 52. 1861 H. Earle Ups & Downs 283 They are..up to unlimited ‘spiders’, or lemonade and sherry. 1888E. Finn Chron. Early Melbourne ii. 548 The favourite tipple of the bushman was mixed brandy and ginger beer—a ‘spider’, as it was called. 1941Coast to Coast 229 ‘You've had your drink, so now you've got to buy us all a spider at Smith's’... I didn't want to go back and sit in Smith's and drink silly coloured muck with ice-cream floating in it. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai 14 She reached for a thick yellow glass and poured in the ginger beer..an enormous dollop of ice-cream which she dropped into the ginger beer. ‘There's your spider.’ 1974Buckley & Hamilton Festival 127 You used to strut into the milk bar as though you owned the place. ‘A lime spider, Harry.’
5. Naut. (See quots. and spider-hoop.)
1860Nares Naval Cadet's Guide 5 Spiders, an iron outrigger to keep blocks clear of the ship's side. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 71 What are spiders? They are somewhat similar to goose necks, only they are supported by three legs, to enable them to resist strain in different directions; they are used for the after main brace and main sheet. 1874Thearle Naval Archit. 66 An iron forging termed a ‘spider’, with a square hole or a socket in the top,..is let down over the top of the rudder. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2265/2 Spider,..a hoop around a mast provided with belaying-pins.
6. a. techn. One or other of various parts or pieces of machinery, or of instruments and other apparatus, esp. one consisting of a framework or metal casting with radiating arms or spokes suggestive of the legs of a spider.
1860Clark & Colburn Recent Practice Locomotive Engine 52/1 In driving wheels, the centre, or ‘spider’, for a 5-feet wheel to carry 4½ tons, will weigh 1800 pounds and upwards. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2265/2 Spider, a skeleton of radiating spokes; as a sprocket-wheel consisting of spokes on a rotating shaft. 1888S. R. Bottone Electr. Instrum. Making (ed. 2) 109 Which pins..serve to bolt the armature firmly to the brass star-wheel, or ‘spider’, by means of which it is affixed to the shaft. 1935A. G. Ingalls Amateur Telescope Making (ed. 4) 371 Another interesting diffraction phenomena [sic]..known to most able telescope designers, is the fact that there will be fewer diffraction lines from a four-legged diagonal support spider than from one having only three legs. 1961Miczaika & Sinton Tools of Astronomer iii. 75 Diffraction of light by the spider supporting the secondary mirror is a frequent complaint. 1966L. A. H. Eastman tr. Schenkel's Plastics Extrusion Technol. & Theory xi. 326 The melt is..fed via a 90° bend into a distributor spider, which may have four to eight symmetrically arranged radial channels.
b. (See quot.)
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2265/2 Spider,..the solid interior portion of a piston to which the packing is attached and to whose axis the piston-rod is secured.
c. U.S. Coal-mining. (See quot.)
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 230 Spiders,..see Drum rings. [Ibid. 91 Drum-rings, cast iron wheels, with projections, to which are bolted the staves or laggings forming the surface for the ropes to lap upon.]
d. Austral. Opal-mining. (See quot. 1912.)
1912Empire Mag. Nov. 281/2 Spider, a small iron instrument which serves the double purpose of holding the candle, and ‘lifting’ the seam of opal. 1940I. L. Idriess Lightning Ridge xxiii. 158, I gouged around and under, then pryed it out with the spider point. 1958M. D. Berrington Stones of Fire iii. 33 A candle in a ‘spider’ that queer, spiked holder that is used below ground. 1967Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 10 Dec. 3/5 The candle in its spider dropped to the floor and went out.
e. Engin. A metal sleeve within which an object may be gripped by screws or wedges.
1920Bull. U.S. Bureau of Mines No. 182. 7 Spider, tool that encircles and holds the pipe by means of steel wedges. Ibid. 17 The swinging spider..is probably one of the most useful inventions..for the handling of casing in drilling oil wells. 1940[see cat-head n. 3 c]. 1950A. W. Judge Centre, Capstan & Automatic Lathes II. iii. 135 The short end of the hub faces outwards, and the spider is gripped between the arms by three chuck jaws. 1977R. D. Langenkamp Handbk. Oil Industry Terms & Phrases (ed. 2) 159 The spider is manually locked around a length of tubing just below the tool joint. Some advanced types of elevator spiders are air operated.
f. Electronics. A flexible linkage formerly placed between the moving cone and the fixed magnet assembly of a loudspeaker.
1928Wireless World 6 June 608/1 A centring device in the form of a brass spider attached to the pin is supplied. 1948G. A. Briggs Loudspeakers vi. 20 The bakelised spider gives a sharply defined bass response to the cone, resulting in a crispness in the tone. 1959N. H. Crowhurst Basic Audio I. 49 To prevent the coil rubbing against the magnet poles, a centering ‘spider’ or suspension is used, which allows free movement in the direction of vibration, while preventing the coil from moving against the pole faces.
7. a. A lightly-built cart, trap, or phaeton with a high body and disproportionately large and slender wheels. Orig. S. Afr. Also (Austral.), a trotting gig.
1879Daily News 21 Aug. 5/4, I don't know how often that ‘spider’ and I rolled over together into the mud. 1882Mrs. Heckford Lady Trader 241 A spanking pair of horses in a spider, brought the sheriff from Pretoria. 1895Outing XXVII. 186 A few days later he journeyed again to Brooklyn..and found her spider standing in front of the door. 1945S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. ix. 175 Spider or junker, a trotting gig. 1955A. Ross Australia 55 34 The drivers, dressed in silks like jockeys, sit behind their animals in tiny carriages known as spiders. 1969West Australian 5 July 32/5 Causing Pyraket to strike and badly buckle the inside wheel of Master Flame's spider.
b. An early bicycle with the benefit of steel wheels, as opp. to those of wood. Cf. spider-wheel, sense 11 a below. Now only Hist.
1874Bicycling 4 Had he lived in the days of the ‘Coventry Spiders’. 1908E. M. Sneyd-Kynnersley H.M.I. ix. 82 Safety bicycles were not yet: the Boneshaker was not tempting, and the Spider was perilous.
8. In various elliptical uses (see sense 11):
a. A spider-table.
b. A spider-rest.
c. A spider-cell.
d. A spider-nævus.
(a)1848[M. W. Savage] Bachelor of the Albany 70 A nest of spiders for embroidery or chess, an oblong table,..and a round table.
(b)1887in Cassell's Encycl. Dict. 1896W. J. Ford in Broadfoot Billiards 392 Beginners should be cautioned to watch carefully for foul strokes, especially when the rest or spider is being used.
(c)1893Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 Aug. 462 Contemporaneously the nerve-cells shewed signs of degeneration, amongst them were seen the proliferating spiders.
(d)1942Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. CCIV. 251 The well known increase in excretion of estrogenic substances in pregnancy coincides with the period during which vascular spiders and palmar erythema tend to appear. 1948D. Ballantyne Cunninghams iii. 15 Winter weather gave her the blue spiders. 1969Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 Jan. 2/3 Does wearing a ‘pants-type’ girdle cause broken blood vessels in the thighs?.. These little vessels are called ‘spiders’... These spiders are commonest in women; hence the hormone (estrogen) level is thought to have a bearing. 1974R. M. Kirk et al. Surgery vi. 107 Hepatic failure causes weakness,..vascular spiders (named from the spider-like appearance of dilated arterioles), palmar erythema..and encephalopathy.
9. Cards. A variety of patience played with two packs.
1890‘Cavendish’ Patience Games 186 The Spider.. requires quite sufficient exercise of thought to render it very interesting. 1901‘Tarbart’ Patience 49 Spider. Played with two full packs of cards. 1930W. S. Maugham Gent. in Parlour xv. 78, I knew seventeen varieties of patience. I tried the Spider and never by any chance got it out.
10. attrib. and Comb.
a. Simple attrib., as spider-cloth, spider-cord, spider-film, spider floss, spider-form, spider-kind, spider-silk, spider-snare, spider-sting, spider-thread, spider tribe.
1916D. H. Lawrence Amores 86 Great grey *spider-cloths hanging Low from the roof.
1863Grosart Small Sins (ed. 2) 35 A scratch like the slenderest *spider-cord.
1835Browning Paracelsus iii. 76 Despising youth's allurements, and rejecting As *spider-films the shackles I endure.
1978C. Tomlinson Shaft 13 Finer than the lines Of *spider floss.
1954J. R. R. Tolkien Two Towers 332 There agelong she had dwelt, an evil thing in *spider-form.
1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., Solipuga,..a small venomous insect of the *spider-kind. 1861Med. Times 20 Apr. 421/1 A large black monkey of the spider kind.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Silk, *Spider-Silk. Within a few Years the Secret has been found in France, of procuring and preparing Silk of the Webs of Spiders. 1875Encycl. Brit. II. 295/2 With respect to the economic or mercantile value of spider silk.
1796Burns Poem on Life v, To put us daft; Syne weave, unseen, thy *spider snare, O' hell's damned waft.
1852Mundy Antipodes (1857) 179 Thanks to the *spider-sting, I felt too feverish to leave the ship.
1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 A iij b, A *spyder threde. 1848Mrs. Carlyle Lett. (1883) II. 31 His dislike to be connected in people's minds, by even the slightest spider-thread, with what he calls ‘George Sandism’. 1868Watts Dict. Chem. V. 399 Spider-threads appear to consist essentially of..sericin. 1894Baring-Gould Deserts S. France I. 1 The traveller..having crossed that spider-thread viaduct of Garabit.
1805Bingley Anim. Biog. III. 603 *Spider Tribe.
b. Passing into adj., with the sense ‘like that of a spider; esp. slender, thin; spider-like, spidery’.
1632Massinger Maid of Hon. i. ii, Be not taken with My pretty spider-fingers. 1723Fenton Mariamne iv. v, His spider-constitution wou'd dissolve In its own venom. 1840Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story viii, A brown cut-away coat..that fitted tight round a spider waist.
c. Appositive, chiefly in allusion to the cunning or wily nature of the spider, as spider-farmer, spider-saint, spider-siren.
1678Butler Hud. iii. i. 1461 Those Spider-Saints, that hang by Threads Spun out o' th' Entrals of their Heads. 1899Daily News 9 May 8 The toils set for him by the treacherous spider-farmer. Ibid. 12 July 8/2 An Indian opium den, and its spider-siren, inveigling poor flies of men to destruction.
d. With adjs. forming similative combs., as spider-legged, spider-limbed, spider-shanked, spider-tongued. Also spider-spruce, spider-thin; spider-leggy adjs.
1787‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsem. (1809) 21 The pitiful *spider-legged things of this age fly into a ditch with you, at the sight of a pocket-handkerchief. 1871Kingsley At Last i, Sand-brush,..through which the spider-legged mangroves rose on stilted roots. 1894W. S. Simpson Mem. (1899) 146 Not an angular spider-legged Frenchified hand, but a clear round legible hand.
1881Freeman in W. R. W. Stephens Life & Lett. (1895) II. 216 First, W. makes a bold broad cross, somewhat as I might make; M. a *spider-leggy kind of one.
1855R. R. Madden Life C'tess Blessington I. 367 The..height of its slim, *spider-limbed, powdered footman.
1785Grose Dict. Vulgar T., *Spider-shanked, thin legged.
1948C. Day Lewis Poems 1943–47 82 But look at her parlour, all lighted and *spider-spruce!
1928V. Woolf Orlando vi. 257 The Serpentine..was a bronze colour; *spider-thin boats were skimming from side to side. 1939G. Greene Confidential Agent i. ii. 48 A..cotton bedspread, clean and faded and spider-thin.
1934Dylan Thomas 18 Poems 24 Some let me make you of autumnal spells, The *spider-tongued, and the loud hill of Wales.
e. Instrumental, as spider-curtained adj.
1925Blunden English Poems 40 The *spider-curtained darkness in the attic of black Jacob's farm.
11. a. Special combs.: spider angioma Path., a spider-nævus; † spider-bag, the cocoon spun by the spider for the protection of its eggs; spider-band Naut., a spider-hoop (U.S.); spider-brusher slang, a domestic servant; spider-cake U.S., a cake cooked in a spider pan; spider cancer Path., spider-nævus; † spider-cap, a cap of a spider-like appearance formerly worn by women; spider-cart, = sense 7; † spider-caul, a spider's web (cf. caul n.1 3); in quot. fig., a male flirt; spider-cell, (a) Biol., a bacillus having the appearance of a small spider; (b) Anat., one of the characteristic cells of the neuroglia, having numerous delicate processes resembling the legs of a spider; † spider's cloth, † spider cob, a spider's web, a cobweb; spider couching Needlework, spider-hoop Naut. (see quots.); spider-man, one employed to work on high structures; a steeple-jack; spider-nævus Path. (see quots.); spider-rest, a billiard rest with legs of sufficient length to allow of its being placed over a ball without touching it; spider-shanks dial., a person having long, thin legs; spider-sheave, a form of sheave or pulley-block somewhat resembling a spider in construction; spider-stitch Needlework (see quots.); spider-table, a slightly-constructed occasional table with spider-like legs; spiderveil, a kind of veil; spider veins, small dilated superficial veins around varicosities on a leg; † spider-wevet, a cobweb (in quot. fig.); spider-wheel, (a) a form of water-wheel; (b) Needlework (see spider-stitch); (c) a metal wheel with wire spokes (formerly applied spec. to a bicycle-wheel); hence spider-wheeled, a., fitted with spider-wheels; spider-work, work having the characteristics or appearance of a spider's web; spec. in Needlework = opus araneum.
A few other special terms, which appear to have little or no currency, are given in recent Dicts.
1956New Gould Med. Dict. (ed. 2) 77/1 *Spider angioma. 1961R. D. Baker Essent. Path. xvi. 412 At autopsy one notes ascites and subcutaneous edema of the legs, often with hydrothorax. Spider angiomata are frequently observed on the skin.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Silk, The *Spider-Bags are of a Grey Colour when new.
1833T. Hook Love & Pride, Widow iii, Carefully folded according to the suggestion of the venerable *spider-brusher. 1841W. H. Maxwell Scotland (1855) 11 The English spider-brusher is a gem beyond value.
1869Mrs. Whitney We Girls v, The flaky *spider-cake, turned just as it blushed golden-tawny over the coals.
1898Syd. Soc. Lex., *Spider-cancer, Acne rosacea.
1790Wesley Wks. (1872) VII. 360 Your needless ornaments..—ruffles, necklaces, *spider-caps, ugly, unbecoming bonnets.
1900Treves Tale Field Hosp. xxvii. 97 Left by the roadside..were carts, light *spider-carts,..and..cumbrous impedimenta.
1641R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlw. 322 Let not then these *Spidercauls delude you, discretion will laugh at them, modesty loath them.
1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 433 Spherical ‘*spider’ cells with clear contents. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 715 At a later stage the spider-cells are transformed into a fibrillar meshwork.
1638W. M. Garcia's Sonne Rogue 38 The hangings of their chambers are all mourning, with some borders of *spiders-cloth (cobwebs).
a1571Jewel Serm. (1609) 231 What profit had ye in your dreames, in your *spider cobbes, in your drosse, in your chaffe?
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 92/9 *Spider couching, a Raised Couching. Upon a linen foundation fasten down short pieces of whip⁓cord. Cut these of equal length, and arrange them like the spokes of a wheel or the chief threads of a spider's web.
1846A. Young Naut. Dict. 291 *Spider-hoop, the hoop going round a mast to secure the shackles to which the futtock-shrouds are attached. 1863Ibid. 362 The name of spider hoop is also given to a hoop of iron with belaying pins attached to it, or an iron hoop encircling a wooden rim, into which such pins are inserted for belaying brails or braces to. 1868Nares Seamanship (ed. 4) 57 The spider hoop for the topgallant shrouds.
1955Britannica Bk. of Year 489/2 *Spiderman, an erector of building structures. 1958Radio Times 25 July 3/1 These spider-men and steel-erectors work at great heights, often where there are no means of protection. They walk along girders at dizzy heights as though they were strolling along Piccadilly. 1962B.S.I. News July 11/1 Safety harness worn by window-cleaners and spidermen. 1972J. Wainwright Night is Time to Die 8 They used an expression familiar to all working policemen. ‘Sudden Death.’ It covers everything; from..the spiderman who takes that one chance too many..to the hippy who spins into permanent orbit.
1898Syd. Soc. Lex., *Spider-nævus. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 826 A common variety [of nævus] found on the face of children, is a small central red spot with a leash of vessels running to it (spider nævus).
1873Bennett & Cavendish Billiards 28 The heads of cushion and *spider-rests, are generally made of wood.
1828Lytton Pelham lxxxi, The tallest of the set, who bore the euphonious appellation of *Spider-shanks, politely asked me [etc.].
1903Sci. Amer. 31 Jan. 80/1 A couple of *spider-sheaves were sent ashore.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 62/2 Catherine Wheel..is also known by the name of Spider Wheel or *Spider Stitch, and is chiefly employed to fill up round holes in embroidery on muslin. Ibid. 242/2 Roue, also called Wheel and Spider Stitch, and made either with Point Croisé and Point de Toile, or of Point d'Esprit.
1844W. H. Maxwell Scotland xiv. (1855) 128 Mrs. C― was seated in her easy-chair with a *spider table before her. 1861Lever One of them lii. 402 As they placed a little spider-table between them.
1922Joyce Ulysses 441 In smart Saxe tailormade, white velours hat and *spiderveil.
1976Vogue Jan. 20/4 The treatment of broken and *spider veins on legs.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. iii. 420 b, When you sate knittyng such fleying moats, and *spyderweuett and such stubble.
1868Chambers's Encycl. X. 95/2 The latter are more often made of wrought-iron rods, with a slight axle. This wheel is much lighter.., and is called a suspension or *spider wheel. 1875Eng. Mechanic 23 Apr. 146/2 With the spider-wheels I found that there was rather a tendency to get loose. 1882Bicycle 15 The Spider-Wheel, invented by the Coventry Machinists Company and now almost universal. 1906Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 735/1 The introduction of the free spider-wheel, pneumatic-tired cycle. 1969West Australian 5 July 32/5 On the turn out of the back straight in the last lap Majestic Scott's spider wheel was badly buckled. 1977Weekly Times (Melbourne) 19 Jan. 57/4 (Advt.), Semitipper, 10–1 spread bogey... Hercules body and hoists..900 × 20 tyres, spider wheels.
1886Century Mag. July 338/2 There may be a crowd of onlookers in every kind of trap, from a four-in-hand drag to a *spider-wheeled buggy drawn by a pair of long-tailed trotters. 1943J. W. Day Farming Adventure iii. 40 A high spider-wheeled dogcart.
c1812Byron in Peel Luddites (1880) vii. 35 By the adoption of one species of frame in particular, one man performed the work of many... Yet it is to [be] observed that the work thus executed was inferior in quality... It was called, in the cant of the trade, by the name of ‘*Spider work’. 1865Spider-work [see opus araneum]. 1874Queen Lace Bk. i. 5 Darned Netting (Opus araneum; Spiderwork; Point conté). 1883Gd. Words Dec. 791/2 This orchid is seldom seen without some gossamery spiderwork surrounding it.
b. In the names of animals, insects, birds, etc., which bear some resemblance to, or are associated in some way with, spiders, as spider-ant, -diver, -eater, † -fish, -fly, -hunter, -mite, -shell, -tortoise, -wasp, -whelk (see quots.); spider beetle, a long-legged beetle of the family Ptinidæ. Also spider-catcher, -crab, -monkey.
1881Cassell's Nat. Hist. V. 377 The females of this and other species have an aspect intermediate between that of a Spider and that of an Ant, whence the German entomologists give them the very characteristic name of ‘*Spider Ants’. Ibid. 381 The Spider Ants (Mutillæ).
1954Borror & DeLong Introd. Study of Insects xxii. 379 The Ptinidae, or *spider beetles, are small long-legged beetles..somewhat spiderlike in appearance. 1979P. L. G. Bateman Household Pests ii. 106 Spider beetles are basically scavengers and infestations often originate in old birds' nests.
1827Sporting Mag. (N.S). XX. 39 These birds (colymbus minutus) are very common in the fleets, and are called by the Marshmen *Spider Divers. 1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 216 Little Grebe,..Spider diver.
1885H. O. Forbes Nat. Wand. E. Archip. iii. viii. 233, I obtained an interesting bird, a green species of *Spider-eater.
1608Topsell Serpents 233 Yet these Serpents are thought to be none other then the Fishes called Aranei, or *Spyder-fishes.
1787Best Angling (ed. 2) 112 The *Spider-Fly. Comes on about the twentieth of April,..and continues on about a fortnight. 1813Bingley Anim. Biog. III. 331 The Hippoboscæ form a connecting link betwixt the two-winged and the apterous insects. By some authors they have been denominated mouches araignées, or spider-flies. 1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 317 The Hippoboscidæ, or spider-flies, are found upon birds and animals.
1856–8Horsfield & Moore Catal. Birds E. India Co. II. 727 Arachnothera magna, the Great *Spider-hunter (Hodgson). 1862Jerdon Birds India I. 361 Arachnothera pusilla, the Little Spider-hunter. 1876–80Shelley Monograph Nectariniidæ 358, I retain the Spider-hunters in the present family [Arachnotherinæ].
1870H. A. Nicholson Man. Zool. xxxvii. 269 The Garden-mites (Trombididæ) and *Spider-mites (Ganasidæ) live upon plants. 1879E. P. Wright Anim. Life 525 The Spider Mites are small eyeless creatures, parasitical on bats, birds, reptiles, and insects.
1752J. Hill Hist. Anim. 144 The tuberculose Murex, the Scorpion shell, commonly called the *Spider-shell. 1896Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. VI. 385 The spider-shells (Pteroceras), with the claw-like projections from the outer lip.
Ibid. V. 64 The last member of this section of the family is the *spider-tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides) of Madagascar.
1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxiii. (1818) II. 309 The *spider-wasps (Pompilus, F.) walk by starts, as it were, vibrating their wings, at the same time.
1713Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ Tab. vi, Tribulus,..*Spider Welk.
c. In the names of plants, grasses, etc., as spider flower, an annual herb of the genus Cleome of the family Capparaceæ, esp. C. hasslerana, which has clusters of pink or white flowers with long stamens (cf. cleome); spider grass, (see quots.); spider lily, a bulbous plant belonging to the genus Hymenocallis, native to North and South America, or Crinum, native to tropical regions, both of the family Amaryllidaceæ, and bearing clusters of white or pink flowers, often fragrant; spider ophrys, orchid, orchis, (see quots.); spider plant, (a) (see quots. 1852, 1882); (b) a perennial herb, Chlorophytum comosum, of the family Liliaceæ, native to South Africa, of which forms bearing variegated linear leaves and clusters of white flowers are much cultivated as house plants. Also spiderwort.
1861A. Wood Class-Bk. Bot. (ed. 10) 240 *Spider Flower... Herbs or shrubs. 1909A. E. Mack Bush Calendar 4 Faded by the excessive rain were the red spider-flowers. 1931W. N. Clute Common Names Plants 101 The spiderflower (Cleome) named from the long and sprawling stamens like spider's legs. 1968Peterson & McKenny Field Guide Wildflowers 230 Spider-flower... Note the extraordinarily long stamens projecting beyond the 4 narrow-stalked pink or white petals.
1889J. H. Maiden Usef. Pl. 98 Panicum divaricatissimum, *Spider Grass.
1887Harper's Mag. Feb. 351/1 The exquisite white *spider-lily, nodding in clusters on long stalks. 1908E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber i. i. 21 Along the deltas of the creeks are fragrant, gigantic ‘spider lilies’ (Crinum). 1946D. C. Peattie Road of Naturalist v. 58 The cypress woods around Charleston with sudden spider lilies. 1980A. Desai Clear Light of Day i. 7 They went slowly up the wide stairs between the massed pots of spider lilies and asparagus fern.
1796Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) II. 39 Ophrys aranifera, *Spider ophrys.
1889J. H. Maiden Usef. Pl. 11 Caladenia, *Spider Orchids.
1785Martyn Lett. Bot. xxvii. (1794) 421 *Spider Orchis is a lower plant. 1839Lindley Sch. Bot. 177 Ophrys araneifera (Spider Orchis). 1882Garden 11 Feb. 89/1 The requirements of such fastidious plants as..the Bee, the Fly, the Spider Orchis..are seldom found in gardens. 1898Morris Austral Eng. 429 Spider-Orchis, name given in Tasmania to the Orchid Caladenia pulcherrima, F. v. M.
1852P. C. Sutherland Jrnl. Voy. Baffin's Bay xix. II. 236 The most beautiful plant that one could see in a whole day's walking around Assistance Bay, was the *spider plant (Saxifraga flagellaris). 1882Friend Dev. Plant-n., Spider-plant, Saxifraga sarmentosa. 1946M. Free All about House Plants xv. 126 That plant with striped leaves known to many as spider-plant..increases by means of plantlets produced on the ends of its flower stalks. 1979S. Rifkin McQuaid in August vii. 48 Three enormous spider plants hung..in front of the window.
Hence ˈspiderdom, the world of spiders; ˈspiderhood, the existence of spiders; ˈspiderish a., resembling a spider; hence ˈspiderishness.
1892Longman's Mag. Aug. 367 The prime blame of spiderhood rests with Nature. 1897Strand Mag. Feb. 287/2 The principles of Malthus are unknown in Spiderdom. 1935O. Stapledon Odd John i. 3 Strangers were often revolted by his uncouth proportions. They called him spiderish. 1944G. B. Shaw Everybody's Political What's What? xxxvi. 320 Commercial ability is often really mere spiderishness.
▸ Computing. With allusion to web n. A program (often associated with a search engine) which searches the World Wide Web automatically and retrieves a set of relevant documents and others linked to them. Also called crawler.
1993Re: Q: FORMS, is there a Guide/Reference? in comp.infosystems.www.misc (Usenet newsgroup) 16 Sept. Alternatively you can start and search the web with some spider, crawler or other search engine. 1994Guardian (Nexis) 1 Dec. (Online Suppl.) 5 What we need is some kind of automated census of the Web: some software robots that tirelessly wander along every link just to see what's there. Several of these programs now exist, and go by the name of Web crawlers, spiders or worms. 1997Internet World Jan. 38/3 Meta tags offer information that will be extracted by the spiders that search engines send out to index pages. 2002Catal. Age (Nexis) June 7 An unscrupulous merchant could design his site so that when a search engine spider visits, it gets a page on which the words ‘gift baskets’ are repeated 100 times so that the page ranks well for that search term.
▪ II. ˈspider, v.
[f. prec.]
1. trans. To catch or entrap after the manner of the spider.
1891Standard 5 Oct. 2/2 Mr. Gladstone has fooled these people..to the very top of their bent. He has spidered them once more.
2. a. intr. To move in a manner suggestive of a spider. b. trans. To cause to move or appear thus.
1938G. Greene Brighton Rock vi. i. 236 Ida Arnold had been trained by the Board. Queerer things than that had spidered out under her fingers and old Crow's. 1975New Yorker 26 May 39/3 It is impossible to resist a postscript at the bottom of that august form, though no doubt it would have to be spidered up the margin. 1976‘F. Clifford’ Drummer in Dark vi. 27 His fingers spidered over the map, stressing a detail here, a field of fire there.
Hence ˈspidering ppl. a. and vbl. n.
1973T. Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow i. 55 His little bureau is dominated now by a glimmering map,..written names and spidering streets. 1975New Yorker 12 May 141/1 He wishes only, with his nimble, sinister spidering amid the complexities of our cultural situation, to give us—one of his favorite words—frissons. |