| 释义 |
cob·web
I. \ˈkäbˌweb\ noun
Etymology: alteration of Middle English coppeweb, from coppe spider (from Old English ātorcoppe) + web; akin to Middle Dutch coppe spider, Danish edderkop, Swedish dialect etterkoppa and probably to Old English copp top — more at cop
1.
a. : the network spread by a spider to catch its prey
b. : a single thread spun by a spider; also : tangles of such thread with adherent dirt and dust that have accumulated
< the windows dark with cobweb >
< festooned with grimy cobwebs >
c. : a thread or web spun by an insect larva
2. : a slight or flimsy texture
< a cobweb of fine-spun casuistry is dissipated in a breath — B.N.Cardozo >
3. cobwebs plural : a clogging or obscuring accumulation especially as a result of disuse, neglect, or stagnation
< the magazine … helped to sweep away the aesthetic cobwebs of half a century — H.L.Mencken >
: confusion or disorder especially of the mind
< cobwebs go out of my mind as I write — H.J.Laski >
4. : a snare of insidious meshes
< cobwebs of law and politics >
II. transitive verb
(cobwebbed ; cobwebbed ; cobwebbing ; cobwebs)
1. : to obscure (as a mind or a subject) by confusion or stagnation
< the drunk whose mind is cobwebbed and confused — Lucius Garvin >
2. : to cover with a network resembling cobwebs
< cobwebbed with ropes — Osbert Sitwell > |