web

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 ]