spider

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

English [edit]

Wikipedia has articles on:

Wikipedia

A spider.

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English spithre, from Old English spīder, spīþra (spider), from Proto-Germanic *spinþrô (spider", literally, "spinner), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend-, *(s)pen- (to pull, stretch, spin). Cognate with Scots spider (spider), West Frisian spin (spider), Dutch spin (spider), German Spinne (spider), Danish spinder (spinner, spider), Swedish spindel (spider). More at spin.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

spider (plural spiders)

  1. Any of various eight-legged, predatory arthropods, of the order Araneae, most of which spin webs to catch prey.
  2. (Internet) A program which follows links on the World Wide Web in order to gather information.
  3. (chiefly Australia and New Zealand) A float (drink) made by mixing ice-cream and a soda or fizzy drink (such as lemonade).
    • 2002, Katharine Gasparini, Cranberry and vanilla ice cream spider, recipe in Cool Food, page 339.
  4. (slang) A spindly person.
  5. (slang) A man who persistently approaches or accosts a woman in a public social setting, particularly in a bar.
  6. (snooker, billiards) A stick with a convex arch-shaped notched head used to support the cue when the cue ball is out of reach at normal extension; a bridge.
  7. (cooking) A cast-iron frying pan with three legs, once common in open hearth cookery. They were generally called spiders both in England and in America.
    • 2008, Corona Club (San Francisco, California), Corona Club Cook Book, page 202,
      Melt ½ the dry sugar in the spider, stirring with knife until all is melted.
  8. A part of a crank, to which the chainrings are attached
  9. (slang) Heroin (street drug).
  10. (music) Part of a resonator instrument that transmits string vibrations from the bridge to a resonator cone at multiple points.

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

Verb [edit]

spider (third-person singular simple present spiders, present participle spidering, simple past and past participle spidered)

  1. (Internet, of a computer program) to follow links on the World Wide Web in order to gather information.
    The online dictionary is regularly spidered by search engines.

Derived terms [edit]

See also [edit]

Anagrams [edit]


Italian [edit]

Etymology [edit]

English

Noun [edit]

spider m (invariable)

  1. (computing) spider (Internet software)

Anagrams [edit]