cobweb
noun/ˈkɒbwɛb/
Etymology From Middle English copweb, coppeweb. Compare Middle Dutch kopwebbe, German Low German Kobbenwebbe (Westphalian). By surface analysis, cob (“spider”, obsolete) + web.
7 senses
- 1A spiderweb, or the remains of one, especially an…
- 2One of its filaments; gossamer.
- 3Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and…
- 4An intricate plot to catch the unwary.
- 5A web page that either has not been updated for a long…
- 6The European spotted flycatcher, Muscicapa striata.
- 7fuzzy inexact memories.
1
A spiderweb, or the remains of one, especially an asymmetrical one that is woven with an irregular pattern of threads.
- […] there was stretched across his gateway a circular cobweb of the largest kind and quite entire. This looked so ominous that I actually turned aside and went in the back way.1865, Henry David Thoreau, chapter X, in Cape Cod, Provincetown, page 200:
- A cobweb, night-spun, hung in an insidious circle from branch to branch, facing her. Early as it was, its first victim struggled in its gummy meshes.1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 286:
2
One of its filaments; gossamer.
3
Figuratively Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; valueless remainder.
- blow the cobwebs away
- The dust and cobwebs of that uncivil age.a. 1587 (date written), Phillip Sidney [i.e., Philip Sidney], An Apologie for Poetrie. […], London: […] [James Roberts] for Henry Olney, […], published 1595, →OCLC; republished as Edward Arber, editor, An Apologie for Poetrie (English Reprints), London: [Alexander Murray & Son], 1 April 1868, →OCLC:
1 more example
- Once the cobwebs of a lack-lustre first half were blown away, Spurs were irresistible and Arsenal were simply unable to cope with the power of Mousa Dembele in midfield and the creation and running of Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli - combined with the inevitable goalscoring prowess of Kane.2018 February 10, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 0 Arsenal”, in BBC:
4
An intricate plot to catch the unwary.
- Entangled in the cobwebs of the schools.1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC:
6
The European spotted flycatcher, Muscicapa striata.
7
Informal, Plural normally fuzzy inexact memories.
- I washed my face, trying to get the cobwebs of hard sex and an alcohol-induced sleep out of my head2008, Burlan Eugene Ellison, The Ebony Coffin: A Jim Kirkwood Novel, page 98:
- "Hey," she said. "You know what? After you call the hospital, why don't you go for a run? It'll help clear out the cobwebs, get rid of some of that tension. Then go back, take a nice hot shower, and―" "There's no shower here. Remember?" "Oh, right. A nice hot bath, then. Even better. And eat breakfast, Caelum. You need to remember to eat."2008, Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed, Ch.5, at p.116
1 more example
- Veyz mir, meaning something like “Oh . . . my!,” was a Yiddish expression that I had not employed for a long, long time. Yet in the cobwebs of my memory, that expression was still lurking inside. How interesting!2012, Stanley M. Bierman, Napoleon's Penis: Plus Other Engaging and Outrageous Tales, page 16:
- Derived terms
- cobwebbed, cobwebbery, cobwebbing, cobweb brush, cobwebby, cobweb chart, cobweblike, cobweb model, cobweb site, cobweb spider, cobweb theory, dwarf cobweb weaver spider
- Hypernyms
- web