spider

noun

• 1an eight-legged predatory arachnid with an unsegmented body consisting of a fused head and thorax and a rounded abdomen. Spiders have fangs which inject poison into their prey, and most kinds spin webs in which to capture insects.

  • Order Araneae, class Arachnida
• used in names of arachnids similar or related to spiders, e.g. sea spider, sun spider.

• 2an object resembling a spider, especially one having numerous or prominent legs or radiating spokes.
• British a set of radiating elastic ties used to hold a load in place on a vehicle.
• a long-legged rest for a billiard cue that can be placed over a ball without touching it.

• 3another term for crawler (in the computing sense).

verb

• move in a scuttling manner suggestive of a spider:a treecreeper spidered head first down the tree trunk
• form a pattern suggestive of a spider or its web: a system of tunnels spider through the district