1340 Ayenbite (1866) 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.

1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (Bodl.) xviii. liv Þis formicalion..is a manere kinde of spiþeres.

c1440 Wycliffite Bible Job viii. 14 His trist schal be as a web of spiþers [v.rr. yreyns, areyns; earlier version attercoppis].

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 140/2 Eranye, or spyder, or spynnare.

1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde ii. xv. 101 The spyther or spyncop.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Ovi^v Howe the vyne of grace..shulde be kept,..that neyther beestes, wormes, ne spyders come therto.

1592 R. Greene Repentance sig. C4^v They with the spider sucke poison out of the most pretious flowers.

1665 in F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (1907) II. 244 The house..being horidly nasty,..the spiders are redy to drope into my mouthe.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 133 Or Secret Moaths are there in Silence fed; Or Spiders in the Vault, their snary Webs have spred. View more context for this quotation

1727 J. Thomson Summer 27 The Window..where, gloomily retir'd, The Villain Spider lives, cunning, and fierce, Mixture abhorr'd!

1782 J. Priestley Hist. Corruptions Christianity II. vi. 51 In case..any fly or spider should fall into the wine.

1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham I. xx. 157 Because rogues are like spiders, and eat each other, when there is nothing else to catch.

1861 R. T. Hulme tr. C. H. Moquin-Tandon Elements Med. Zool. ii. v. ii. 262 In hot climates, Spiders are able to produce..a certain amount of local pain.

1896 J. W. Kirkaldy & E. C. Pollard tr. J. E. V. 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.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. ii. 121 Heere in her haires the Paynter playes the Spyder, and hath wouen a golden mesh tyntrap the harts of men. View more context for this quotation

1894 M. Dyan All in Man's Keeping (1899) 310 There was too much of the alluring spider and giddy fly business in the arrangement.

1568 T. Howell Arbor of Amitie f. 20^v For spitefull spiders spare not, For curious carpers care not.

1579 T. Lodge Protogenes 35 From the same flower..whence the Spyder (I mean the ignorant) take their poison.

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III i. iii. 240 Why strewst thou suger on that bottled spider, Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about? View more context for this quotation

?1602 Narcissus (MS Bodl. Rawl. poet. 212) (1893) 1893 577 Dare you vse mee thus to my face, spidar?

1638 W. Chillingworth Relig. Protestants i. Concl. 410 If you were ten times more a spider then you are, you could suck no poyson from them.

1798 R. Southey To Spider iii, in Poet. Wks. (1837) II. 180 Hell's huge black Spider, for mankind he lays His toils, as thou for flies.

a1822 P. B. Shelley Charles I iv, in Wks. (1870) II. 393 Realms..Beyond the shot of tyranny, Beyond the webs of that swoln spider.

1898 ‘H. S. 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.

1670 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. 194 He hath swallowed a spider, i.e. plaid the bankrupt.

1842 G. W. Francis Dict. Arts (at cited word) 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.

1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 198 The Carter, Shepherd Spider, or long-legg'd spider.

1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. x. 215/2 The long legged Spider of the Garden, or Field.

1806 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. VI. ii. 473 To this genus [Phalangium] belong those well known insects called long-legged, shepherd, or harvest Spiders.

1818 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (ed. 2) II. xxiii. 307 Octopods..including the tribes of mites (Acaridæ); spiders (Araneidæ); long-legged spiders (Phalangidæ); and scorpions.

1848 Johnston in Hist. Berwickshire Naturalists' Club 2 No. 6. 292 The Phalangia,..or long-legged spiders.

1863 J. Couch Hist. Fishes Brit. Islands 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.

1853 T. Bell Hist. Brit. Stalk-eyed Crustacea 42 Like all the other triangular Crustacea, the fishermen inveterately term it [sc. the spinous spider-crab] ‘spider’.

1857 W. C. Stewart Pract. Angler v. 81 Spiders dressed of very soft feathers are more suitable for fishing up than for fishing down.

1807 in E. C. Barker Austin Papers (1924) I. i. 132 2 Spiders with Covers.

1830 J. Galt Lawrie Todd I. iii. xii. 268 A judicious selection of spiders and frying-pans.

1842 J. G. Whittier in S. T. Pickard Life & Lett. J. G. Whittier (1895) I. 278 Like fishes dreaming of the sea, And waking in the spider.

1870 A. D. T. Whitney We Girls vi. 105 It is slopping and burning and putting away with a rinse, that makes kettles and spiders untouchable.

1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech.

1860 D. K. Clark & Z. Colburn Recent Pract. 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.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2265/2 Spider, a skeleton of radiating spokes; as a sprocket-wheel consisting of spokes on a rotating shaft.

1888 S. R. Bottone Electr. Instr. 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.

1935 A. 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.

1961 G. R. Miczaika & W. M. Sinton Tools of Astronomer iii. 75 Diffraction of light by the spider supporting the secondary mirror is a frequent complaint.

1966 L. A. H. Eastman tr. G. Schenkel 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.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 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.

1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining 230 Spiders,..see Drum rings. [p. 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.]

1912 Empire Mag. Nov. 281/2 Spider, a small iron instrument which serves the double purpose of holding the candle, and ‘lifting’ the seam of opal.

1940 I. L. Idriess Lightning Ridge xxiii. 158 I gouged around and under, then pryed it out with the spider point.

1958 M. D. Berrington Stones of Fire iii. 33 A candle in a ‘spider’ that queer, spiked holder that is used below ground.

1967 Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 10 Dec. 3/5 The candle in its spider dropped to the floor and went out.

1920 Bull. U.S. Bureau of Mines No. 182. 7 Spider, tool that encircles and holds the pipe by means of steel wedges.

1920 Bull. U.S. Bureau of Mines No. 182. 17 The swinging spider..is probably one of the most useful inventions..for the handling of casing in drilling oil wells.

1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 141/2 Cathead or spider, a lathe accessory consisting of a turned sleeve.

1950 A. 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.

1977 R. 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.

1928 Wireless World 6 June 608/1 A centring device in the form of a brass spider attached to the pin is supplied.

1948 G. A. Briggs Loudspeakers vi. 20 The bakelised spider gives a sharply defined bass response to the cone, resulting in a crispness in the tone.

1959 N. 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.

1879 Daily News 21 Aug. 5/4 I don't know how often that ‘spider’ and I rolled over together into the mud.

1882 S. M. Heckford Lady Trader in Transvaal 241 A spanking pair of horses in a spider, brought the sheriff from Pretoria.

1895 Outing 27 186 A few days later he journeyed again to Brooklyn..and found her spider standing in front of the door.

1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. ix. 175 Spider or junker, a trotting gig.

1955 A. Ross Australia 55 34 The drivers, dressed in silks like jockeys, sit behind their animals in tiny carriages known as spiders.

1969 West Australian 5 July 32/5 Causing Pyraket to strike and badly buckle the inside wheel of Master Flame's spider.

1874 Bicycling 4 Had he lived in the days of the ‘Coventry Spiders’.

1908 E. M. Sneyd-Kynnersley H.M.I. ix. 82 Safety bicycles were not yet: the Boneshaker was not tempting, and the Spider was perilous.

1848 M. W. Savage Bachelor of Albany vii. 70 A nest of spiders, for embroidery or chess, an oblong table;..and a round table.

1887 in Cassell's Encycl. Dict. VI.

1896 W. J. Ford in W. Broadfoot et al. Billiards (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) 392 Beginners should be cautioned to watch carefully for foul strokes, especially when the rest or spider is being used.

1893 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 Aug. 462 Contemporaneously the nerve-cells shewed signs of degeneration, amongst them were seen the proliferating spiders.

1942 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 204 251 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.

1948 D. Ballantyne Cunninghams i. iii. 15 Winter weather gave her the blue spiders.

1969 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 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.

1974 R. 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.

1916 D. H. Lawrence Amores 86 Great grey spider-cloths hanging Low from the roof.

1863 A. B. Grosart Small Sins (ed. 2) 35 A scratch like the slenderest spider-cord.

1835 R. Browning Paracelsus iii. 76 Despising youth's allurements, and rejecting As spider-films the shackles I endure.

1978 C. Tomlinson Shaft 13 Finer than the lines Of spider floss.

1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Two Towers iv. ix. 332 There agelong she had dwelt, an evil thing in spider-form.

1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Solipuga,..a small venomous insect of the spider-kind.

1861 Med. Times & Gaz. 20 Apr. 421/1 A large black monkey of the spider kind.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk Spider-Silk. Within a few Years the Secret has been found in France, of procuring and preparing Silk of the Webs of Spiders.

1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 295/2 With respect to the economic or mercantile value of spider silk.

a1796 R. Burns Poem & Songs (1968) II. 810 To put us daft; Syne weave, unseen, thy spider snare O' hell's damned waft.

1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes II. xiii. 374 Thanks to the spider-sting, I felt too feverish to leave the ship.

?1541 R. Copland Galen's Fourth Bk. Terapeutyke sig. Aiij^v, in Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens A spyder threde.

1848 J. W. 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’.

1868 H. Watts Dict. Chem. V. 399 Spider-threads appear to consist essentially of..sericin.

1894 S. Baring-Gould Deserts S. France I. 1 The traveller..having crossed that spider-thread viaduct of Garabit.

1803 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. III. Index 576/1 Spider Tribe.

1928 W. M. Smart Sun, Stars & Universe xiv. 214 In the focal plane are two parallel fixed ‘spider-wires’.

1956 Blakiston's New Gould Med. Dict. (ed. 2) 77/1 Spider angioma.

1961 R. D. Baker Essent. Pathol. xvi. 412 At autopsy one notes ascites and subcutaneous edema of the legs, often with hydrothorax. Spider angiomata are frequently observed on the skin.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk The Spider-Bags are of a Grey Colour when new.

1833 T. Hook Widow iii, in Love & Pride I. 74 Carefully folded according to the suggestion of the venerable spider-brusher.

1841 W. H. Maxwell Scotl. (1855) 11 The English spider-brusher is a gem beyond value.

1870 A. D. T. Whitney We Girls v. 80 The flaky spider-cake, turned just as it blushed golden-tawny over the coals.

1898 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Spider-cancer, Acne rosacea.

1790 J. Wesley Wks. (1872) VII. 360 Your needless ornaments..—ruffles, necklaces, spider-caps, ugly, unbecoming bonnets.

1900 Treves Tale Field Hosp. xxvii. 97 Left by the roadside..were carts, light spider-carts,..and..cumbrous impedimenta.

1631 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlewoman 93 Let not then these Spider-cauls delude you, discretion will laugh at them, modesty loath them.

1888 G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson Forms Animal Life (ed. 2) 433 Spherical ‘spider’ cells with clear contents.

1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 715 At a later stage the spider-cells are transformed into a fibrillar meshwork.

a1571 J. Jewel Serm. (1609) 231 What profit had ye in your dreames, in your spider cobbes, in your drosse, in your chaffe?

1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. 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.

1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 291 Spider-hoop, the hoop going round a mast to secure the shackles to which the futtock-shrouds are attached.

1863 A. Young Naut. Dict. (ed. 2) 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.

1868 G. S. Nares Seamanship (ed. 4) 57 The spider hoop for the topgallant shrouds.

1955 Britannica Bk. of Year 489/2 Spiderman, an erector of building structures.

1958 Radio 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.

1962 B.S.I. News July 11/1 Safety harness worn by window-cleaners and spidermen.

1972 J. 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.

1898 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Spider-nævus.

1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. 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).

1873 J. Bennett & ‘Cavendish’ Billiards 28 The heads of cushion and spider-rests, are generally made of wood.

1638 W. Melvin tr. C. Garcia Sonne of Rogue 38 The hangings of their chambers are all mourning, with some borders of spiders-cloth (cobwebs).

1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham III. xviii. 297 The tallest of the set, who bore the euphonious appellation of Spider-shanks, politely asked me [etc.].

1903 Sci. Amer. 31 Jan. 80/1 A couple of spider-sheaves were sent ashore.

1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. 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.

1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 242/2 Roue, also called Wheel and Spider Stitch, and made either with Point Croisé and Point de Toile, or of Point d'Esprit.

1844 W. H. Maxwell Scotl. (1855) xiv. 128 Mrs. C—— was seated in her easy-chair with a spider table before her.

1861 C. J. Lever One of Them lii. 402 As they placed a little spider-table between them.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 426 In smart Saxe tailormade, white velours hat and spider veil.

1976 Vogue Jan. 20/4 The treatment of broken and spider veins on legs.

1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius iii. 420 b When you sate knittyng such fleying moats, and spyderweuett and such stubble.

1868 Chambers'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.

1875 Eng. Mechanic 23 Apr. 146/2 With the spider-wheels I found that there was rather a tendency to get loose.

1882 Bicycle 15 The Spider-Wheel, invented by the Coventry Machinists Company and now almost universal.

1906 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 735/1 The introduction of the free spider-wheel, pneumatic-tired cycle.

1969 West 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.

1977 Weekly Times (Melbourne) 19 Jan. 57/4 (advt.) Semitipper, 10–1 spread bogey... Hercules body and hoists..900 × 20 tyres, spider wheels.

1886 Cent. 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.

1943 J. W. Day Farming Adventure iii. 40 A high spider-wheeled dogcart.

c1812 Ld. Byron 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’.

1865 F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace ii. 17 Distinct from all these geometric combinations was the Lacis of the sixteenth century, done on a network ground (réseau), identical with the ‘opus araneum’, or spider-work of continental writers.

1874 Queen Lace Bk. i. 5 Darned Netting (Opus araneum; Spiderwork; Point conté).

1883 Good Words Dec. 791/2 This orchid is seldom seen without some gossamery spiderwork surrounding it.

1861 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. (ed. 10) 240 Spider Flower... Herbs or shrubs.

1909 A. E. Mack Bush Cal. 4 Faded by the excessive rain were the red spider-flowers.

1931 W. N. Clute Common Names Plants 101 The spiderflower (Cleome) named from the long and sprawling stamens like spider's legs.

1968 R. T. Peterson & M. McKenny Field Guide Wildflowers Northeastern & North-central N. Amer. 230 Spider-flower... Note the extraordinarily long stamens projecting beyond the 4 narrow-stalked pink or white petals.

1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 98 Panicum divaricatissimum, Spider Grass.

1887 Harper's Mag. Feb. 351/1 The exquisite white spider-lily, nodding in clusters on long stalks.

1908 E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber i. i. 21 Along the deltas of the creeks are fragrant, gigantic ‘spider lilies’ (Crinum).

1946 D. C. Peattie Road of Naturalist (U.K. ed.) v. 58 The cypress woods around Charleston with sudden spider lilies.

1980 A. Desai Clear Light of Day i. 7 They went slowly up the wide stairs between the massed pots of spider lilies and asparagus fern.

1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 39 Ophrys aranifera, Spider ophrys.

1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 11 Caladenia, Spider Orchids.

1785 T. Martyn tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xxvii. 423 Spider Orchis is a lower plant.

1839 J. Lindley School Bot. 177 Ophrys araneifera (Spider Orchis).

1882 Garden 11 Feb. 89/1 The requirements of such fastidious plants as..the Bee, the Fly, the Spider Orchis..are seldom found in gardens.

1898 E. E. Morris Austral Eng. 429 Spider-Orchis, name given in Tasmania to the Orchid Caladenia pulcherrima, F. v. M.

1852 P. C. Sutherland Jrnl. Voy. Baffin's Bay II. xix. 236 The most beautiful plant that one could see in a whole day's walking around Assistance Bay, was the spider plant (Saxifraga flagellaris).

1882 H. Friend Gloss. Devon Plant Names Spider-plant, Saxifraga sarmentosa.

1946 M. 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.

1979 S. Rifkin McQuaid in August vii. 48 Three enormous spider plants hung..in front of the window.

1938 G. 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.

1976 ‘F. Clifford’ Drummer in Dark vi. 27 His fingers spidered over the map, stressing a detail here, a field of fire there.

1975 New 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.