n. [ Cob a spider + web. ] 1. The network spread by a spider to catch its prey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A snare of insidious meshes designed to catch the ignorant and unwary. [ 1913 Webster ]

I can not but lament thy splendid wit
Entangled in the cobwebs of the schools. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; rubbish. [ 1913 Webster ]

The dust and cobwebs of that uncivil age. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Zool.) The European spotted flycatcher. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cobweb lawn, a fine linen, mentioned in 1640 as being in pieces of fifteen yards. Beck. Draper's Dict. [ 1913 Webster ] Such a proud piece of cobweb lawn. Beau. & Fl. --
Cobweb micrometer, a micrometer in which threads of cobweb are substituted for wires. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Abounding in cobwebs. “The cobwebbed cottage.” Young. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Abounding in cobwebs, or any fine web; resembling a cobweb. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The larva of any moth of the genus Hyphantria, which spins a web around the foliage on which it feeds. [ PJC ]

n. Probably, the baked berry of the hawthorn tree, that is, coarse fare. See 1st Haw, 2. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Mega- + weber. ] (Elec.) A million webers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Micro- + weber. ] (Elec.) The millionth part of one weber. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Milli- + weber. ] (Physics) The thousandth part of one weber. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or }. (Zool.) The silken web which is formed by most kinds of spiders, particularly the web spun to entrap their prey; -- also called cobweb. See Geometric spider, Triangle spider, under Geometric, and Triangle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. webbe, AS. webba. See Weave. ] A weaver. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. web, AS. webb; akin to D. web, webbe, OHG. weppi, G. gewebe, Icel. vefr, Sw. väf, Dan. væv. See Weave. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. That which is woven; a texture; textile fabric; esp., something woven in a loom. [ 1913 Webster ]

Penelope, for her Ulysses' sake,
Devised a web her wooers to deceive. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not web might be woven, not a shuttle thrown, or penalty of exile. Bancroft. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A whole piece of linen cloth as woven. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The texture of very fine thread spun by a spider for catching insects at its prey; a cobweb. “The smallest spider's web.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Fig.: Tissue; texture; complicated fabrication. [ 1913 Webster ]

The somber spirit of our forefathers, who wove their web of life with hardly a . . . thread of rose-color or gold. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such has been the perplexing ingenuity of commentators that it is difficult to extricate the truth from the web of conjectures. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Carriages) A band of webbing used to regulate the extension of the hood. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A thin metal sheet, plate, or strip, as of lead. [ 1913 Webster ]

And Christians slain roll up in webs of lead. Fairfax. [ 1913 Webster ]

Specifically: - [ 1913 Webster ]

(a) The blade of a sword. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The sword, whereof the web was steel,
Pommel rich stone, hilt gold. Fairfax. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) The blade of a saw. [ 1913 Webster ]

(c) The thin, sharp part of a colter. [ 1913 Webster ]

(d) The bit of a key. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mach. & Engin.) A plate or thin portion, continuous or perforated, connecting stiffening ribs or flanges, or other parts of an object. Specifically: -- [ 1913 Webster ]

(a) The thin vertical plate or portion connecting the upper and lower flanges of an lower flanges of an iron girder, rolled beam, or railroad rail. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) A disk or solid construction serving, instead of spokes, for connecting the rim and hub, in some kinds of car wheels, sheaves, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

(c) The arm of a crank between the shaft and the wrist. [ 1913 Webster ]

(d) The part of a blackmith's anvil between the face and the foot. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Med.) Pterygium; -- called also webeye. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Anat.) The membrane which unites the fingers or toes, either at their bases, as in man, or for a greater part of their length, as in many water birds and amphibians. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Zool.) The 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. See Feather. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

Pin and web (Med.), two diseases of the eye, caligo and pterygium; -- sometimes wrongly explained as one disease. See Pin, n., 8, and Web, n., 8. “He never yet had pinne or webbe, his sight for to decay.” Gascoigne. --
Web member (Engin.), one of the braces in a web system. --
Web press, a printing press which takes paper from a roll instead of being fed with sheets. --
Web system (Engin.), the system of braces connecting the flanges of a lattice girder, post, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Webbed p. pr. & vb. n. Webbing. ] To unite or surround with a web, or as if with a web; to envelop; to entangle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The world-wide web; -- usually referred to as the web. [ PJC ]

a. 1. Provided with a web. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Having the toes united by a membrane, or web; as, the webbed feet of aquatic fowls. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who forms webs; a weaver; a webster. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A woven band of cotton or flax, used for reins, girths, bed bottoms, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a web or webs; like a web; filled or covered with webs. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bats on their webby wings in darkness move. Crabbe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From the name of Professor Weber, a German electrician. ] (Elec.) The standard unit of electrical quantity, and also of current. See Coulomb, and Amp&unr_;re. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.) See Web, n., 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having the fingers united by a web for a considerable part of their length. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Webfeet [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A foot the toes of which are connected by a membrane. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Any web-footed bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having webbed feet; palmiped; as, a goose or a duck is a web-footed fowl. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. webbestre. See Web, Weave, and -ster. ] A weaver; originally, a female weaver. [ Obs. ] Brathwait. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ So named after Webster, the geologist. ] (Min.) A hydrous sulphate of alumina occurring in white reniform masses. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having the toes united by a web for a considerable part of their length. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Any one of various species of moths whose gregarious larvae eat the leaves of trees, and construct a large web to which they retreat when not feeding. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The most destructive webworms belong to the family Bombycidae, as the fall webworm (Hyphantria textor), which feeds on various fruit and forest trees, and the common tent caterpillar, which feeds on various fruit trees (see Tent caterpillar, under Tent.) The grapevine webworm is the larva of a geometrid moth (see Vine inchworm, under Vine). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The collective total of all computer installations that are connected to the internet and provide access to other computers connected to the internet, using hypertext transfer protocol, to computer files called web pages, which may have text, graphics, audio or animated video data, as well as pages which may provide data or information in all those forms.
Syn. -- Web, the web, WWW. [ PJC ]