Definition

1. Noun:
   • Predatory arachnid: A small creature with eight legs, two poison fangs, two feelers (pedipalps), and usually two silk-spinning organs (spinnerets) at the rear of its body. Spiders use silk to build webs for trapping prey, to make cocoons for eggs, or for other purposes.
   • A skillet made of cast iron: A type of frying pan, typically with legs, used for cooking over an open fire.
   • A computer program: A software application that systematically browses the World Wide Web to discover and index web pages for a search engine database.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (Arachnid):
  • I saw a spider spinning a web in the corner of the room.
  • Most spiders are harmless to humans.
• Noun (Skillet):
  • The chef cooked the cornbread in an old cast-iron spider over the campfire.
• Noun (Computer Program):
  • The search engine's spider constantly crawls the web to update its index.

Advanced Usage

• "To spider" (verb, computing): The act of a program automatically traversing the web.
  • The software is designed to spider the entire domain for new links.
• "Spider's web": The intricate, silken structure built by a spider to catch prey; often used metaphorically for a complex or ensnaring situation.
  • He was caught in a spider's web of lies.

Variants and Related Words

• Spiderlike (adjective): Resembling or characteristic of a spider.
  • The robot had a spiderlike gait.
• Spiderweb (noun): The web spun by a spider.
  • Dew glistened on the spiderweb.
• Spiderling (noun): A young or newly hatched spider.

Synonyms

• Arachnid: The biological class to which spiders belong.
• Crawler: Another term for a web-crawling program.
• Bot: Short for robot, often used for automated web-traversing software.

Related Phrases

• "Spider and the fly": A metaphor for a predator and its victim, a cunning person and a gullible one.
  • Their relationship was a classic case of the spider and the fly.
• "Spider sense": A heightened, intuitive awareness of danger, popularized by the comic book character Spider-Man.
  • My spider sense was tingling, telling me something was wrong.

Idioms

• "To weave a spider's web": To create a complex, often deceptive, plan or situation.
  • The spy wove a spider's web of intrigue.

Noun

1. a skillet made of cast iron
2. 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
3. predatory arachnid with eight legs, two poison fangs, two feelers, and usually two silk-spinning organs at the back end of the body; they spin silk to make cocoons for eggs or traps for prey