spider

• n. 蜘蛛；设圈套者；三脚架

来自古英语 spider,蜘蛛， 来自 Proto-Germanic*spin, 纺织， 来自 PIE*spen, 纺织， 词源同 spin,spindle.-der,-ther,工具格后缀，词源同 rudder,tether.因蜘蛛善织网而得名。

spider

spider: [OE] The spider is etymologically the ‘spinner’. Its name goes back to a primitive Old English *spinthron, a derivative of the verb spinnan ‘spin’. The inspiration is the same, and much more obvious, behind other Germanic words for ‘spider’, such as German spinne, Dutch spinner, Swedish spindel, and Danish spinder.
=> spin

spider (n.)

late 14c., spydyr, from earlier spiþre, spiþur, spiþer (14c.), from Old English spiðra, from Proto-Germanic *spin-thron- (cognate with Danish spinder), literally "the spinner," from *spen-wo- "to spin" (see spin (v.)) + formative or agential *-thro. The connection with the root is more transparent in other Germanic cognates (such as Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Middle High German, German spinne, Dutch spin "spider").

The male is commonly much smaller than the female, and in impregnating the female runs great risk of being devoured. The difference in sizes is as if the human female should be some 60 or 70 feet tall. [Century Dictionary]

Not the common word in Old English, which identified the creatures as loppe, lobbe, also atorcoppe, and, from Latin, renge. Another Old English word was gangewifre "a weaver as he goes," and Middle English had araine "spider" (14c.-15c., from French). In literature, often a figure of cunning, skill, and industry as well as poisonous predation; in 17c. English used figuratively for poisonousness and thread-spinning but also sensitivity (to vibrations), lurking, independence. As the name for a type of two-pack solitaire, it is attested from 1890. Spider crab is from 1710, used of various species; spider monkey is from 1764, so called for its long limbs.

1. The spider must wait for prey to be ensnared on its web.

蜘蛛必须等待猎物被它的蛛网困住。

来自柯林斯例句

2. The woolly spider monkey is the largest primate in the Americas.

绒毛蛛猴是美洲最大的灵长类动物。

来自柯林斯例句

3. the geometry of a spider's web

蜘蛛网的几何形状

来自《权威词典》

4. to be caught in a spider's web of confusion

陷入混乱不堪的局面

来自《权威词典》

5. A spider had spun a perfect web outside the window.

蜘蛛在窗外结了一张完整的网。

来自《权威词典》