"cobweb" meaning in English

See cobweb in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈkɒbwɛb/ Audio: en-us-cobweb.ogg [US] Forms: cobwebs [plural], copweb [alternative, obsolete]
Etymology: From Middle English copweb, coppeweb, coppewebbe, from Old English ātorcoppe (“spider”) + Old English webb. Compare Middle Dutch kopwebbe, German Low German Kobbenwebbe (Westphalian). By surface analysis, cob (“spider”, obsolete) + web. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|copweb}} Middle English copweb, {{inh|en|ang|ātorcoppe|t=spider}} Old English ātorcoppe (“spider”), {{inh|en|ang|webb}} Old English webb, {{cog|dum|kopwebbe}} Middle Dutch kopwebbe, {{cog|nds-de|Kobbenwebbe}} German Low German Kobbenwebbe, {{i|Westphalian}} (Westphalian), {{surf|+com|en|cob|web|id1=spider|pos1=obsolete|t1=spider}} By surface analysis, cob (“spider”, obsolete) + web Head templates: {{en-noun}} cobweb (plural cobwebs)
  1. A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads. Synonyms: spiderweb, web
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-~cfPmvTJ
  2. A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.
    One of a spiderweb's filaments; gossamer; anything flimsy and gauzy, intricately interconnected or otherwise like a cobweb.
    Synonyms: spiderweb, web
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-VeLp5GVA Categories (other): English terms with collocations
  3. A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.
    (figurative) An intricate plot to catch the unwary; something entangling or confusing.
    Tags: figuratively Synonyms: spiderweb, web, intrigue, web
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-TCsL4c-1
  4. A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.
    (figurative) Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; valueless remainder.
    Tags: figuratively Synonyms: spiderweb, web
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-quZ-kQlp
  5. (informal, usually in the plural) Fuzzy inexact memories; confusion. Tags: informal, plural-normally
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-w-hxj6DX
  6. (informal, usually in the plural) Fuzzy inexact memories; confusion.
    (Internet slang, rare, figurative) A web page that either has not been updated for a long time, or one that is rarely visited.
    Tags: Internet, figuratively, informal, plural-normally, rare Synonyms: cobweb site
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-AzkVuYcY
  7. The European spotted flycatcher, Muscicapa striata.
    Sense id: en-cobweb-en-noun-p8mg6DFK Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Muscicapids Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 3 14 3 3 18 18 42 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 2 17 2 2 6 14 56 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 2 14 2 2 15 15 51 Disambiguation of Muscicapids: 1 8 1 1 8 8 71
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated

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": "cobweb chart"
    },
    {
      "_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": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "ātorcoppe",
        "t": "spider"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English ātorcoppe (“spider”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "webb"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English webb",
      "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": "cob",
        "4": "web",
        "id1": "spider",
        "pos1": "obsolete",
        "t1": "spider"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, cob (“spider”, obsolete) + web",
      "name": "surf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English copweb, coppeweb, coppewebbe, from Old English ātorcoppe (“spider”) + Old English webb. Compare Middle Dutch kopwebbe, German Low German Kobbenwebbe (Westphalian). By surface analysis, cob (“spider”, obsolete) + web.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cobwebs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "copweb",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cobweb (plural cobwebs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
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    {
      "parts": [
        "cob",
        "web"
      ]
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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      "examples": [
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          "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": "quotation"
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          "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": "quotation"
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          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-~cfPmvTJ",
      "links": [
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          "spiderweb",
          "spiderweb"
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        [
          "abandoned",
          "abandoned"
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        [
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          "asymmetrical"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "spiderweb"
        },
        {
          "word": "web"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with collocations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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          "tags": [
            "collocation"
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          "text": "cobweb model, cobweb theory",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.",
        "One of a spiderweb's filaments; gossamer; anything flimsy and gauzy, intricately interconnected or otherwise like a cobweb."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-VeLp5GVA",
      "links": [
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          "spiderweb"
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          "abandoned",
          "abandoned"
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          "asymmetrical",
          "asymmetrical"
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          "filament",
          "filament"
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          "gossamer"
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          "flimsy"
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          "gauzy"
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          "word": "spiderweb"
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        {
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          "text": "I was confused by the cobwebs of contract law.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.",
        "An intricate plot to catch the unwary; something entangling or confusing."
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          "spiderweb"
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          "abandoned"
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          "asymmetrical"
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          "intricate",
          "intricate"
        ],
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          "plot",
          "plot"
        ],
        [
          "catch",
          "catch"
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          "unwary",
          "unwary"
        ],
        [
          "entangling",
          "entangling"
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        [
          "confusing",
          "confusing"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.",
        "(figurative) An intricate plot to catch the unwary; something entangling or confusing."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "spiderweb"
        },
        {
          "word": "web"
        },
        {
          "word": "intrigue"
        },
        {
          "word": "web"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              9,
              15
            ]
          ],
          "text": "blow the cobwebs away",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              20
            ]
          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        },
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              9,
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          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.",
        "Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; valueless remainder."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-quZ-kQlp",
      "links": [
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          "spiderweb",
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          "unsubstantial",
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          "valueless",
          "valueless"
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          "remainder",
          "remainder"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.",
        "(figurative) Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; valueless remainder."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "spiderweb"
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        {
          "word": "web"
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      "tags": [
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      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
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          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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.\""
        },
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          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Fuzzy inexact memories; confusion."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-w-hxj6DX",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, usually in the plural) Fuzzy inexact memories; confusion."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "plural-normally"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "Fuzzy inexact memories; confusion.",
        "A web page that either has not been updated for a long time, or one that is rarely visited."
      ],
      "id": "en-cobweb-en-noun-AzkVuYcY",
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "web page",
          "web page"
        ],
        [
          "update",
          "update"
        ],
        [
          "visit",
          "visit"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, usually in the plural) Fuzzy inexact memories; confusion.",
        "(Internet slang, rare, figurative) A web page that either has not been updated for a long time, or one that is rarely visited."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "cobweb site"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "figuratively",
        "informal",
        "plural-normally",
        "rare"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "3 14 3 3 18 18 42",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 17 2 2 6 14 56",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 14 2 2 15 15 51",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "1 8 1 1 8 8 71",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Muscicapids",
          "orig": "en:Muscicapids",
          "parents": [],
          "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"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "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",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "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 derived from Old English",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Old English",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Muscicapids"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "cobwebbed"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobwebbery"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobwebbing"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobweb brush"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobwebby"
    },
    {
      "word": "cobweb chart"
    },
    {
      "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": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "ātorcoppe",
        "t": "spider"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English ātorcoppe (“spider”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "webb"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English webb",
      "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": "cob",
        "4": "web",
        "id1": "spider",
        "pos1": "obsolete",
        "t1": "spider"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, cob (“spider”, obsolete) + web",
      "name": "surf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English copweb, coppeweb, coppewebbe, from Old English ātorcoppe (“spider”) + Old English webb. Compare Middle Dutch kopwebbe, German Low German Kobbenwebbe (Westphalian). By surface analysis, cob (“spider”, obsolete) + web.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cobwebs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "copweb",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cobweb (plural cobwebs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "cob",
        "web"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
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            ]
          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              24
            ]
          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spiderweb",
          "spiderweb"
        ],
        [
          "abandoned",
          "abandoned"
        ],
        [
          "asymmetrical",
          "asymmetrical"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "spiderweb"
        },
        {
          "word": "web"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with collocations",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
              6
            ],
            [
              14,
              20
            ]
          ],
          "tags": [
            "collocation"
          ],
          "text": "cobweb model, cobweb theory",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.",
        "One of a spiderweb's filaments; gossamer; anything flimsy and gauzy, intricately interconnected or otherwise like a cobweb."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spiderweb",
          "spiderweb"
        ],
        [
          "abandoned",
          "abandoned"
        ],
        [
          "asymmetrical",
          "asymmetrical"
        ],
        [
          "filament",
          "filament"
        ],
        [
          "gossamer",
          "gossamer"
        ],
        [
          "flimsy",
          "flimsy"
        ],
        [
          "gauzy",
          "gauzy"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "spiderweb"
        },
        {
          "word": "web"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              22,
              29
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I was confused by the cobwebs of contract law.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.",
        "An intricate plot to catch the unwary; something entangling or confusing."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spiderweb",
          "spiderweb"
        ],
        [
          "abandoned",
          "abandoned"
        ],
        [
          "asymmetrical",
          "asymmetrical"
        ],
        [
          "intricate",
          "intricate"
        ],
        [
          "plot",
          "plot"
        ],
        [
          "catch",
          "catch"
        ],
        [
          "unwary",
          "unwary"
        ],
        [
          "entangling",
          "entangling"
        ],
        [
          "confusing",
          "confusing"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.",
        "(figurative) An intricate plot to catch the unwary; something entangling or confusing."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "spiderweb"
        },
        {
          "word": "web"
        },
        {
          "word": "intrigue"
        },
        {
          "word": "web"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              9,
              15
            ]
          ],
          "text": "blow the cobwebs away",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              20
            ]
          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              9,
              16
            ]
          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.",
        "Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; valueless remainder."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spiderweb",
          "spiderweb"
        ],
        [
          "abandoned",
          "abandoned"
        ],
        [
          "asymmetrical",
          "asymmetrical"
        ],
        [
          "unsubstantial",
          "unsubstantial"
        ],
        [
          "valueless",
          "valueless"
        ],
        [
          "remainder",
          "remainder"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "A spiderweb, especially a large one, an old abandoned one covered with debris and dust or an asymmetrical one woven with an irregular pattern of threads.",
        "(figurative) Something thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; valueless remainder."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "spiderweb"
        },
        {
          "word": "web"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              36,
              43
            ]
          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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.\""
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              132,
              139
            ]
          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Fuzzy inexact memories; confusion."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, usually in the plural) Fuzzy inexact memories; confusion."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "plural-normally"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English internet slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with rare senses",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Fuzzy inexact memories; confusion.",
        "A web page that either has not been updated for a long time, or one that is rarely visited."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "web page",
          "web page"
        ],
        [
          "update",
          "update"
        ],
        [
          "visit",
          "visit"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, usually in the plural) Fuzzy inexact memories; confusion.",
        "(Internet slang, rare, figurative) A web page that either has not been updated for a long time, or one that is rarely visited."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "cobweb site"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "figuratively",
        "informal",
        "plural-normally",
        "rare"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "The European spotted flycatcher, Muscicapa striata."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "European spotted flycatcher",
          "European spotted flycatcher"
        ],
        [
          "Muscicapa striata",
          "Muscicapa striata#Translingual"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "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",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cobweb"
}

Download raw JSONL data for cobweb meaning in English (9.7kB)

{
  "called_from": "page/1498/20230118",
  "msg": "''A spiderweb, especially a larg'[...]' gloss has examples we want to keep, but there are subglosses.",
  "path": [
    "cobweb"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "cobweb",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.