web

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See also: Web and web-

English[edit]

A spider's web (1)
A baseball glove, with a web (4) between the thumb and forefinger
Profile of flat-bottomed and bullhead railway rail showing the web (9)

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English webbe, from Old English webb, from Proto-Germanic *wabją, from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“weave”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /wɛb/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛb

Noun[edit]

web (plural webs)

  1. The silken structure which a spider builds using silk secreted from the spinnerets at the caudal tip of its abdomen; a spiderweb.
    The sunlight glistened in the dew on the web.
  2. (by extension) Any interconnected set of persons, places, or things, which when diagrammed resembles a spider's web.
    • 1851, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Main Street”, in The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales, Boston: Ticknor, Reed,and Fields, published 1852, page 96:
      […] but the blame must rest on the sombre spirit of our forefathers, who wove their web of life with hardly a single thread of rose-color or gold, and not on me, who have a tropic-love of sunshine, and would gladly gild all the world with it, if I knew where to find so much.
    • 1828, Washington Irving, “Birth, Parentage, and Education of Columbus”, in A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, volume I, Paris: A. and W. Galignani, page 5:
      The time of his birth, his birth-place, his parentage, are all involved in obscurity ; and such has been the perplexing ingenuity of commentators, that it is difficult to extricate the truth from the web of conjectures with which it is interwoven.
  3. (sometimes capitalized) Specifically, the World Wide Web.
    Let me search the web for that.
    • 2013 May 13, Oliver Burkeman, “Conscious computing: how to take control of your life online”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      No, the web probably isn't addictive in the sense that nicotine or heroin are; no, Facebook and Twitter aren't guilty of "killing conversation" or corroding real-life friendship or making children autistic.
  4. (baseball) The part of a baseball mitt between the forefinger and thumb, the webbing.
    He caught the ball in the web.
  5. A latticed or woven structure.
    The gazebo's roof was a web made of thin strips of wood.
    • 1866, George Bancroft, “New Netherland”, in History of the United States of America, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume II, 21st edition, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, page 281:
      The colonists were forbidden to manufacture any woollen, or linen, or cotton fabrics ; not a web might be woven, not a shuttle thrown, on penalty of exile.
  6. (usually with "spin", "weave", or similar verbs) A tall tale with more complexity than a myth or legend.
    Synonym: yarn
    Careful—she knows how to spin a good web, but don't lean too hard on what she says.
  7. A plot or scheme.
  8. The interconnection between flanges in structural members, increasing the effective lever arm and so the load capacity of the member.
  9. (rail transport) The thinner vertical section of a railway rail between the top (head) and bottom (foot) of the rail.
    Coordinate terms: head, foot
  10. A fold of tissue connecting the toes of certain birds, or of other animals.
  11. The series of barbs implanted on each side of the shaft of a feather, whether stiff and united together by barbules, as in ordinary feathers, or soft and separate, as in downy feathers.
  12. (manufacturing) A continuous strip of material carried by rollers during processing.
  13. (lithography) A long sheet of paper which is fed from a roll into a printing press, as opposed to individual sheets of paper.
  14. (dated) A band of webbing used to regulate the extension of the hood of a carriage.
  15. A thin metal sheet, plate, or strip, as of lead.
    • 1600, Edward Fairfax, transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne: Or, The Recouerie of Ierusalem, London: Ar. Hatfield, translation of La Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso, book X, stanza 26, page 184:
      […] And there with ſtately pompe by heapes they wend, / And Chriſtians ſlaine rolle vp in webs of lead […]
    1. The blade of a sword.
    • 1600, Edward Fairfax, transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne: Or, The Recouerie of Ierusalem, London: Ar. Hatfield, translation of La Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso, book II, stanza 93, page 38:
      Argant a ſword, whereof the web was ſteele, / Pommell, rich ſtone ; hilts, gold, approu’d by tuch, / With rareſt workmanſhip all forged weele, / The curious art exceld the ſubſtance much.
    1. The blade of a saw.
    2. The thin, sharp part of a colter.
    3. The bit of a key.
  16. (dated, US, radio, television) A major broadcasting network.
    • 1950, Billboard (volume 62, number 43, page 9)
      […] the first big move toward a contract for television performers was made Friday (20) when the webs agreed to pay them according to the length of the show. […] Altho the major TV webs — NBC and CBS — may fall in line soon, an agreement may possibly be held up by the opposition of DuMont […]

Hypernyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Derived terms of "web"

Translations[edit]

spiderweb — see spiderweb
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Proper noun[edit]

the web

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Web: the World Wide Web.
    I found it on the web.

Verb[edit]

web (third-person singular simple present webs, present participle webbing, simple past and past participle webbed)

  1. (intransitive) To construct or form a web.
  2. (transitive) To cover with a web or network.
    • 1853 June 21, R. C. Stone, “A New Insect”, in Simon Brown, editor, The New England Farmer, volume V, Boston: Raynolds & Nourse, page 362:
      The canker worm has no shelter upon the tree, but lies out upon the leaf or branch ; this forms itself a house by webbing the corner of a leaf, into which it retreats on the first appearance of danger […]
    • 1895, “Has Gold Risen?”, in The Forum, volume XVIII, New York: The Forum Publishing Co., page 577:
      In the meantime continents were being ribbed with railways, the atmosphere was being webbed with telegraph wires connecting every important commercial centre […]
  3. (transitive) To ensnare or entangle.
  4. (transitive) To provide with a web.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To weave.
    • 1511–12, “An Act agaynst deceyptfull making of Wollen Cloth”, in The Statures of the Realm, volume III, London: Dawsons of Pall Mall, published 1963, page 28:
      Item that the Wever whiche shall have the wevyng of eny wollen yerne to be webbed into cloth shall weve werk […]
      [paraphrase] Likewise, that the weaver who is to weave any woollen yarn to be woven into cloth shall weave it well.

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Catalan[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English web.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

web m (plural webs)

  1. web, net, internet
  2. Clipping of lloc web.

Noun[edit]

web f (plural webs)

  1. Clipping of pàgina web.

Further reading[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle Dutch webbe, from Old Dutch *web, from Proto-Germanic *wabją, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“weave”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

web n (plural webben, diminutive webje n)

  1. web
  2. the World Wide Web

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • Afrikaans: web

German[edit]

Verb[edit]

web

  1. singular imperative of weben
  2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of weben

Hungarian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English web.[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

web (plural webek)

  1. (computing) web (Internet)

Declension[edit]

Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)
singular plural
nominative web webek
accusative webet webeket
dative webnek webeknek
instrumental webbel webekkel
causal-final webért webekért
translative webbé webekké
terminative webig webekig
essive-formal webként webekként
essive-modal — —
inessive webben webekben
superessive weben webeken
adessive webnél webeknél
illative webbe webekbe
sublative webre webekre
allative webhez webekhez
elative webből webekből
delative webről webekről
ablative webtől webektől
non-attributive
possessive - singular 		webé webeké
non-attributive
possessive - plural 		webéi webekéi
Possessive forms of web
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. webem webjeim
2nd person sing. webed webjeid
3rd person sing. webje webjei
1st person plural webünk webjeink
2nd person plural webetek webjeitek
3rd person plural webjük webjeik

Derived terms[edit]

(Compound words):

References[edit]

  1. ^ Tótfalusi, István. Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára (’A Storehouse of Foreign Words: an explanatory and etymological dictionary of foreign words’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2005. →ISBN

Italian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English web.

Noun[edit]

web m (invariable)

  1. (computing) web (Internet)

Japanese[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English web.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

web(ウェブ) • (webu) 

  1. the Internet
    web(ウェブ)上(じょう)で公開(こうかい)された
    webu-jō de kōkai sareta
    made public online
    web(ウェブ)番組(ばんぐみ)
    webu-bangumi
    online program

Usage notes[edit]

  • Capitalization may follow English conventions.

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old English webb.

Noun[edit]

web

  1. Alternative form of webbe (“woven fabric, web”)

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old English webba.

Noun[edit]

web

  1. Alternative form of webbe (“weaver”)

Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English web.

Noun[edit]

web f (uncountable)

  1. the World Wide Web
    Synonyms: rede, Internet, net

Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English web.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈweb/, [ˈweβ]; IPA(key): /ˈɡweb/, [ˈɡweβ]

Noun[edit]

web f (uncountable)

  1. (computing) web (Internet)
  2. (computing) webpage, website

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

West Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Frisian webb, from Proto-Germanic *wabją.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

web n (plural webben, diminutive webke)

  1. web
  2. World Wide Web

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • “web”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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