"cobweb" meaning in English

See cobweb in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈkɒbwɛb/ Audio: en-us-cobweb.ogg Forms: cobwebs [plural]
Etymology: From Middle English copweb, coppeweb. Compare Middle Dutch kopwebbe, German Low German Kobbenwebbe (Westphalian). By surface analysis, cop (“spider”, obsolete) + web. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|copweb}} Middle English copweb, {{cog|dum|kopwebbe}} Middle Dutch kopwebbe, {{cog|nds-de|Kobbenwebbe}} German Low German Kobbenwebbe, {{i|Westphalian}} (Westphalian), {{surf|+com|en|cop|web|id1=spider|pos1=obsolete|t1=spider}} By surface analysis, cop (“spider”, obsolete) + web Head templates: {{en-noun}} cobweb (plural cobwebs)
  1. A spiderweb, or the remains of one, especially an asymmetrical one that is woven with an irregular pattern of threads.
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-x6fiPAge
  2. One of its filaments; gossamer.
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-stHf9Lra
  3. (figurative) Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; valueless remainder. Tags: figuratively
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-X4FOQHEq
  4. An intricate plot to catch the unwary.
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-Q0edfC9t
  5. (Internet slang, rare) A web page that either has not been updated for a long time, or that is rarely visited. Tags: Internet, rare
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-jf3Iaq3q
  6. The European spotted flycatcher, Muscicapa striata. Categories (lifeform): Muscicapids
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-p8mg6DFK Disambiguation of Muscicapids: 2 12 6 2 10 58 11 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 1 15 8 1 15 42 18 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 2 14 9 2 20 46 7 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 2 14 7 1 15 47 15
  7. (informal, usually in the plural) fuzzy inexact memories. Tags: informal, plural-normally
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-stabYNPe
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: copweb [obsolete] Hypernyms: web

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "cobwebbed"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "cobwebbery"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "cobwebbing"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "cobweb brush"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "cobwebby"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "cobweblike"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "cobweb model"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "cobweb site"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "cobweb spider"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "cobweb theory"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "dwarf cobweb weaver spider"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "copweb"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English copweb",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "dum",
        "2": "kopwebbe"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle Dutch kopwebbe",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nds-de",
        "2": "Kobbenwebbe"
      },
      "expansion": "German Low German Kobbenwebbe",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "Westphalian"
      },
      "expansion": "(Westphalian)",
      "name": "i"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "+com",
        "2": "en",
        "3": "cop",
        "4": "web",
        "id1": "spider",
        "pos1": "obsolete",
        "t1": "spider"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, cop (“spider”, obsolete) + web",
      "name": "surf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English copweb, coppeweb. Compare Middle Dutch kopwebbe, German Low German Kobbenwebbe (Westphalian). By surface analysis, cop (“spider”, obsolete) + web.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cobwebs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cobweb (plural cobwebs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hypernyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "web"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "cob‧web"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1865, Henry David Thoreau, chapter X, in Cape Cod, Provincetown, page 200:",
          "text": "[…] 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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, or the remains of one, especially an asymmetrical one that is woven with an irregular pattern of threads."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-x6fiPAge",
      "links": [
        [
          "spiderweb",
          "spiderweb"
        ],
        [
          "remain",
          "remain"
        ],
        [
          "asymmetrical",
          "asymmetrical"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "One of its filaments; gossamer."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-stHf9Lra",
      "links": [
        [
          "filament",
          "filament"
        ],
        [
          "gossamer",
          "gossamer"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "The dust and cobwebs of that uncivil age.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 February 10, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 0 Arsenal”, in BBC:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; valueless remainder."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-X4FOQHEq",
      "links": [
        [
          "unsubstantial",
          "unsubstantial"
        ],
        [
          "valueless",
          "valueless"
        ],
        [
          "remainder",
          "remainder"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; valueless remainder."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "Entangled in the cobwebs of the schools.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An intricate plot to catch the unwary."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-Q0edfC9t",
      "links": [
        [
          "intricate",
          "intricate"
        ],
        [
          "plot",
          "plot"
        ],
        [
          "catch",
          "catch"
        ],
        [
          "unwary",
          "unwary"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "A web page that either has not been updated for a long time, or that is rarely visited."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-jf3Iaq3q",
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "web page",
          "web page"
        ],
        [
          "update",
          "update"
        ],
        [
          "visit",
          "visit"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Internet slang, rare) A web page that either has not been updated for a long time, or that is rarely visited."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "rare"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "1 15 8 1 15 42 18",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 14 9 2 20 46 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 14 7 1 15 47 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 12 6 2 10 58 11",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Muscicapids",
          "orig": "en:Muscicapids",
          "parents": [
            "Perching birds",
            "Birds",
            "Vertebrates",
            "Chordates",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The European spotted flycatcher, Muscicapa striata."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-p8mg6DFK",
      "links": [
        [
          "European spotted flycatcher",
          "European spotted flycatcher"
        ],
        [
          "Muscicapa striata",
          "Muscicapa striata#Translingual"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008, Burlan Eugene Ellison, The Ebony Coffin: A Jim Kirkwood Novel, page 98:",
          "text": "I washed my face, trying to get the cobwebs of hard sex and an alcohol-induced sleep out of my head",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed, Ch.5, at p.116",
          "text": "\"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―\"\n\"There's no shower here. Remember?\"\n\"Oh, right. A nice hot bath, then. Even better. And eat breakfast, Caelum. You need to remember to eat.\""
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Stanley M. Bierman, Napoleon's Penis: Plus Other Engaging and Outrageous Tales, page 16:",
          "text": "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!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "fuzzy inexact memories."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-stabYNPe",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, usually in the plural) fuzzy inexact memories."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "plural-normally"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɒbwɛb/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-cobweb.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4d/En-us-cobweb.ogg/En-us-cobweb.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/En-us-cobweb.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "word": "copweb"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "cobweb"
  ],
  "word": "cobweb"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Muscicapids"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "cobwebbed"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobwebbery"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobwebbing"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobweb brush"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobwebby"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobweblike"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobweb model"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobweb site"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobweb spider"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobweb theory"
    },
    {
      "word": "dwarf cobweb weaver spider"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "copweb"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English copweb",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "dum",
        "2": "kopwebbe"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle Dutch kopwebbe",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nds-de",
        "2": "Kobbenwebbe"
      },
      "expansion": "German Low German Kobbenwebbe",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "Westphalian"
      },
      "expansion": "(Westphalian)",
      "name": "i"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "+com",
        "2": "en",
        "3": "cop",
        "4": "web",
        "id1": "spider",
        "pos1": "obsolete",
        "t1": "spider"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, cop (“spider”, obsolete) + web",
      "name": "surf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English copweb, coppeweb. Compare Middle Dutch kopwebbe, German Low German Kobbenwebbe (Westphalian). By surface analysis, cop (“spider”, obsolete) + web.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cobwebs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cobweb (plural cobwebs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hypernyms": [
    {
      "word": "web"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "cob‧web"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1865, Henry David Thoreau, chapter X, in Cape Cod, Provincetown, page 200:",
          "text": "[…] 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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, or the remains of one, especially an asymmetrical one that is woven with an irregular pattern of threads."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spiderweb",
          "spiderweb"
        ],
        [
          "remain",
          "remain"
        ],
        [
          "asymmetrical",
          "asymmetrical"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "One of its filaments; gossamer."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "filament",
          "filament"
        ],
        [
          "gossamer",
          "gossamer"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "The dust and cobwebs of that uncivil age.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 February 10, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 0 Arsenal”, in BBC:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; valueless remainder."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "unsubstantial",
          "unsubstantial"
        ],
        [
          "valueless",
          "valueless"
        ],
        [
          "remainder",
          "remainder"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; valueless remainder."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "Entangled in the cobwebs of the schools.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An intricate plot to catch the unwary."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "intricate",
          "intricate"
        ],
        [
          "plot",
          "plot"
        ],
        [
          "catch",
          "catch"
        ],
        [
          "unwary",
          "unwary"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English internet slang",
        "English terms with rare senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A web page that either has not been updated for a long time, or that is rarely visited."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "web page",
          "web page"
        ],
        [
          "update",
          "update"
        ],
        [
          "visit",
          "visit"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Internet slang, rare) A web page that either has not been updated for a long time, or that is rarely visited."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "rare"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "The European spotted flycatcher, Muscicapa striata."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "European spotted flycatcher",
          "European spotted flycatcher"
        ],
        [
          "Muscicapa striata",
          "Muscicapa striata#Translingual"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008, Burlan Eugene Ellison, The Ebony Coffin: A Jim Kirkwood Novel, page 98:",
          "text": "I washed my face, trying to get the cobwebs of hard sex and an alcohol-induced sleep out of my head",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed, Ch.5, at p.116",
          "text": "\"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―\"\n\"There's no shower here. Remember?\"\n\"Oh, right. A nice hot bath, then. Even better. And eat breakfast, Caelum. You need to remember to eat.\""
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Stanley M. Bierman, Napoleon's Penis: Plus Other Engaging and Outrageous Tales, page 16:",
          "text": "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!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "fuzzy inexact memories."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, usually in the plural) fuzzy inexact memories."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "plural-normally"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɒbwɛb/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-cobweb.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4d/En-us-cobweb.ogg/En-us-cobweb.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/En-us-cobweb.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "word": "copweb"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "cobweb"
  ],
  "word": "cobweb"
}

Download raw JSONL data for cobweb meaning in English (6.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-02-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-02 using wiktextract (ca09fec and c40eb85). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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