Agalena
noun
Ag·a·le·na
ˌa-gə-ˈlēnə
: a genus (the type of the family Agalenidae) of spiders that spin concave webs ending in a funnel-shaped tube where the spider hides see grass spider
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from New Latin (altered from the original taxon Agelena), from a- a- entry 2 + Greek galḗnē "stillness (of the sea), calm, serenity," going back to *galas-nā, probably (if original sense was "cheerfulness") going back to Indo-European *ǵlh2-es-, whence, with full grade, Greek gelân "to laugh," gélōs "laughter"
First Known Use
1869, in the meaning defined above