spider

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Any of various eight-legged, predatory arthropods, of the order Araneae, most of which spin webs to catch prey.
2. (Internet, countable, uncountable) A program which follows links on the World Wide Web in order to gather information.
3. (Australia, New-Zealand, countable, uncountable) A float (drink) made by mixing ice-cream and a soda or fizzy drink (such as lemonade).
4. (Australia, New-Zealand, countable, obsolete, uncountable) An alcoholic drink made with brandy and lemonade or ginger beer.
5. (countable, slang, uncountable) A spindly person.
6. (countable, slang, uncountable) A man who persistently approaches or accosts a woman in a public social setting, particularly in a bar.
7. (countable, uncountable) 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.
8. (UK, US, countable, dialectal, historical, uncountable) A cast-iron frying pan with three legs, once common in open-hearth cookery.
9. (countable, uncountable) Implement for moving food in and out of hot oil for deep frying, with a circular metal mesh attached to a long handle; a spider skimmer
10. (countable, uncountable) A part of a crank, to which the chainrings are attached.
11. (slang, uncountable) Heroin.
12. (countable, uncountable) Part of a resonator instrument that transmits string vibrations from the bridge to a resonator cone at multiple points.
13. (countable, uncountable) A skeleton or frame with radiating arms or members, often connected by crosspieces, such as a casting forming the hub and spokes to which the rim of a fly wheel or large gear is bolted; the body of a piston head; or a frame for strengthening a core or mould for a casting.
14. (England, countable, uncountable) A soft-hackle fly.
15. (countable, uncountable) The network of wires separating the areas of a dartboard.
16. (countable, uncountable) A spider graph or spider tree.
17. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) A type of light phaeton.
18. (countable, uncountable) A support for a camera tripod, preventing it from sliding.
19. (countable, uncountable) A competition in which several participants are spread evenly around the edges of the green, who all make one bowl towards the central jack at the same time; the winner being the person whose bowl ends up closest to the jack.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To move like a spider.
2. (intransitive) To cover a surface like a cobweb.
3. (Internet) To follow links on the World Wide Web in order to gather information.

Synonyms

arachnid

spider web

🕸️

wanderer

spider’s web

rooster

🐓

hen

🐔

chicken

🐔

dove

🕊️

griddle

gridiron

hands

insect

pan

scorpion

🦂

skillet

black widow

spinner

sprocket

stewpan

trivet

spider-type wheel wrench

watch

⌚

frying-pan

frypan

small spider

Tharaphosidae

caltrop chain

stewing pan

Standard and Poor’s depository receipt

arachno

spider-type lug wrench

spider-type wheel brace

cathead

caltrop

clock

crawler

daddy longlegs

frying pan

Translations

araignée

🕷️

araña

🕷️

Spinne

🕷️

ragno

🕷️

spin

🕷️

αράχνη

aranha

🕷️

örümcek

🕷️

aranya

🕷️

aranea

🕷️

عنكبوت

🕷️

aranha

spinnekop

🕷️

araneus

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈspaɪ̯də/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: spiþre

Inherited from Old English: spīþra

In summary

From Middle English spiþre, spydyr, spider, spiþer, from Old English spīþra (“spider”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinþrijō, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną (“to spin”). Mostly displaced attercop (“spider, unpleasant person”), now a dialectal term.
Compare typologically Proto-Slavic *mězgyrь (whence Russian мизги́рь (mizgírʹ)) (akin to Latvian mežģīt), Turkish örümcek (akin to örmek).