cobweb

Definition

A spiderweb, or the remains of one, especially an asymmetrical one that is woven with an irregular pattern of threads.

Etymology

From Middle English copweb, coppeweb. Compare Middle Dutch kopwebbe, German Low German Kobbenwebbe (Westphalian). By surface analysis, cob (“spider”, obsolete) + web.

Example Sentences

• "[…] 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."
• "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."
• "blow the cobwebs away"