spider
/ˈspaɪ̯dɚ/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.25 in modern English
Meaning
noun
Any of various eight-legged, predatory arthropods, of the order Araneae, most of which spin webs to catch prey.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A program which follows links on the World Wide Web in order to gather information.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A float (drink) made by mixing ice-cream and a soda or fizzy drink (such as lemonade).
Australian usage; New Zealand usage; Countable; Uncountable
noun
An alcoholic drink made with brandy and lemonade or ginger beer.
Australian usage; New Zealand usage; Countable; Obsolete; Uncountable
noun
A man who persistently approaches or accosts a woman in a public social setting, particularly in a bar.
Countable; Slang; Uncountable
noun
A stick with a convex arch-shaped notched head used to support the cue when the cue ball is out of reach at normal extension.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A cast-iron frying pan with three legs, once common in open-hearth cookery.
British usage; American usage; Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Little Miss Muffet, She sat on a tuffet, Eating of curds and whey; There came a little spider, Who sat down beside her, And frighted Miss Muffet away."
- "Crawler-based search engines have three major elements. The first is the spider, also called the crawler, which visits a web page, reads it, and then follows links to other pages within the site."
- "2002, Katharine Gasparini, Cranberry and vanilla ice cream spider, recipe in Cool Food, page 339."
- "Cut slices and lay them in cold water in the spider; boil them up two or three minutes, then pour off the water and set the spider again on the coals and brown the slices on each side."
- "In spider pan or deep skillet set over hot coals, quickly fry a few at a time in deep lard until brown."
- "2008, Corona Club (San Francisco, California), Corona Club Cook Book, page 202, Melt ½ the dry sugar in the spider, stirring with knife until all is melted."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *(s)penh₁-, spithre, spīþra, *spinþrijō, *spinnaną
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈspaɪ̯dɚ/
- British English: /ˈspaɪ̯də/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Australian usage
- New Zealand usage
- Obsolete
- Slang
- British usage
- American usage