Spider
WordNet
noun
(1) Predatory arachnid that usually has silk-spinning organs at the back end of the body; they spin silk to make cocoons for eggs or traps for prey
(2) A skillet made of cast iron
(3) A computer program that prowls the internet looking for publicly accessible resources that can be added to a database; the database can then be searched with a search engine
WiktionaryText
English
Etymology
From late spiþra, from spinnan (‘to spin’). Cognate with German Spinne.
Noun
- Any of various eight-legged, predatory arthropods, of the order Araneae, most of which spin webs to catch prey.
- A program which follows links on the World Wide Web in order to gather information.
- A “float”; a drink made by mixing ice-cream and a soda or fizzy drink (such as lemonade).
- A spindly person.
- A man who persistently approaches or accosts a woman in a public social setting, particularly in a bar.
- 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. Also called a bridge.
- A cast-iron frying pan with three legs, once common in open hearth cookery. They were generally called spiders both in England and in America.
- a part of a crank, which the chainrings are attached
- heroin a street drug
Verb
- to follow links on the World Wide Web in order to gather information.
- The online dictionary is regularly spidered by search engines.