web

plural webs

1. The silken structure which a spider builds using silk secreted from the spinnerets at the caudal tip of its abdomen; a spiderweb.

   The sunlight glistened in the dew on the web.

   Synonyms: cobweb, spiderweb

   1. biologyAny of several similar materials, such as that created by tent caterpillars.

      Synonyms: cobweb, spiderweb

2. broadlyAny interconnected set of persons, places, or things, which, when diagrammed, resembles a spider's web.

   "But THAT! Was the OLDEN TIMES! A massive, worldwide web of global information has ENTANGLED THE WORLD! People in Beijing can read about a magical incident in Moperville in seconds, and have video of it in minutes!"

   2018 February 14, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Wednesday, Feb 14, 2018

   2 more examples

   The time of his birth, his birth-place, his parentage, are all involved in obscurity; and such has been the perplexing ingenuity of commentators, that it is difficult to extricate the truth from the web of conjectures with which it is interwoven.

   1828, Washington Irving, “Birth, Parentage, and Education of Columbus”, in A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: G. & C. Carvill, […], →OCLC, book I, page 3

   [T]he blame must rest on the sombre spirit of our forefathers, who wove their web of life with hardly a single thread of rose-color or gold, and not on me, who have a tropic-love of sunshine, and would gladly gild all the world with it, if I knew where to find so much.

   1851 (indicated as 1852), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Main-Street”, in The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 96

   Synonyms: spiderweb

   1. broadlyfigurativelyA scheme.

      web of lies

      1 more example

      She got lost in a web of international intrigue.

      Synonyms: spiderweb, cobweb, intrigue

   2. InternetbroadlyThe Internet; the World Wide Web.

      Synonyms: spiderweb

   3. USbroadlydatedbroadcastingA major broadcasting network.

      ABC-TV this week put into effect its long anticipated plans to move into daytime programming in a bigger way by opening up its 4-5 across-the-board strip. The web is using its "Mickey Mouse Club," which is stoutly anchored in the 5-6 p.m. slot, as a backing up point for its afternoon expansion.

      1955, Billboard, page 5

      1 more example

      […] the first big move toward a contract for television performers was made Friday (20) when the webs agreed to pay them according to the length of the show. […] Altho the major TV webs — NBC and CBS — may fall in line soon, an agreement may possibly be held up by the opposition of DuMont […]

      1950, Billboard, volume 62, number 43, page 9

      Synonyms: spiderweb

3. A latticed or woven structure.

   The gazebo’s roof was a web made of thin strips of wood.

   1 more example

   The colonists were forbidden to manufacture any woollen, or linen, or cotton fabrics ; not a web might be woven, not a shuttle thrown, on penalty of exile.

   1866, George Bancroft, “New Netherland”, in History of the United States of America, from the Discovery of the American Continent, 21st edition, volume II, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, page 281

   Synonyms: webbing

   1. ball gamesThe part of a baseball mitt between the forefinger and thumb, the webbing.

      He caught the ball in the web.

      Synonyms: webbing

   2. datedA band of webbing used to regulate the extension of the hood of a carriage.

      Synonyms: webbing

4. Senses related to an invented narrative
   1. usually"weave"; or similar verbs; "weave"; or similar verbsA tall tale with more complexity than a myth or legend.

      a tangled web of deception

      1 more example

      Careful—she knows how to spin a good web, but don't lean too hard on what she says.

      Synonyms: yarn

   2. A plot or scheme.
5. Any of several components that connect other components.
   1. The interconnection between flanges in structural members, increasing the effective lever arm and so the load capacity of the member.
   2. rail transportThe thinner vertical section of a railway rail between the top (head) and bottom (foot) of the rail.
   3. anatomyA fold of tissue connecting the toes of certain birds or of other animals.
   4. anatomyThe abnormal webbing sometimes present between the fingers or toes in humans.
   5. architectureA section of a groin vault, separated by ribs.
6. A thin metal sheet, plate, or strip, as of lead.
   1. businessA continuous strip of material carried by rollers during processing.
   2. lithographyA long sheet of paper which is fed from a roll into a printing press, as opposed to individual sheets of paper.
   3. The blade of a saw.
   4. The thin, sharp part of a colter.
   5. The bit of a key.
7. obsoleteartsA seventeenth-century unit of Rhenish glass containing 60 bunches.

   […] And there with ſtately pompe by heapes they wend, / And Chriſtians ſlaine rolle vp in webs of lead […]

   1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Tenth Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 26, page 184

   Synonyms: way

   1. obsoleteartsThe blade of a sword.

      Argant a ſword, whereof the web was ſteele, / Pommell, rich ſtone ; hilts, gold, approu’d by tuch, / With rareſt workmanſhip all forged weele, / The curious art exceld the ſubſtance much.

      1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Second Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 93, page 38

      Synonyms: way

8. biologyThe series of barbs implanted on each side of the shaft of a feather, whether stiff and united together by barbules, as in ordinary feathers, or soft and separate, as in downy feathers.
9. archaicmedicineA cataract of the eye.

   Synonyms: pin and web, web and pin

10. obsoleteWoven cloth or material.
    1. obsoleteA piece of cloth or fabric, as off the loom or being removed from a loom.

       She was presented with webs of the finest cloth, and with boxes of precious ointments.

       1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 165

1. Alternative letter-case form of Web: the World Wide Web.

   Let me search the web for that.

   1 more example

   No, the web probably isn't addictive in the sense that nicotine or heroin are; no, Facebook and Twitter aren't guilty of "killing conversation" or corroding real-life friendship or making children autistic.

   2013 May 13, Oliver Burkeman, “Conscious computing: how to take control of your life online”, in The Guardian

present singular third person webs · participle present webbing · participle past webbed · past webbed

1. intransitiveTo construct or form a web.
2. transitiveTo cover with a web or network.

   In the meantime continents were being ribbed with railways, the atmosphere was being webbed with telegraph wires connecting every important commercial centre[…]

   1895, “Has Gold Risen?”, in The Forum, volume XVIII, New York: The Forum Publishing Co., page 577

   1 more example

   The canker worm has no shelter upon the tree, but lies out upon the leaf or branch ; this forms itself a house by webbing the corner of a leaf, into which it retreats on the first appearance of danger[…]

   1853 June 21, R. C. Stone, “A New Insect”, in Simon Brown, editor, The New England Farmer, volume V, Boston: Raynolds & Nourse, page 362

3. transitiveTo ensnare or entangle.
4. transitiveTo provide with a web.
5. obsoletetransitiveTo weave.

   Item that the Wever whiche shall have the wevyng of eny wollen yerne to be webbed into cloth shall weve werk[…]

   1511–12, “An Act agaynst deceyptfull making of Wollen Cloth”, in The Statures of the Realm, volume III, London: Dawsons of Pall Mall, published 1963, page 28

alternative web

1. The World Wide Web.

   Web page

   2 more examples

   Some of that content is now only available on the Web.

   Content on the Web is divided into individual computer files called pages.

   2008, Timothy D. Green, Abbie Brown, LeAnne Robinson, Making the Most of the Web in Your Classroom, Corwin Press, →ISBN, page 31