| 释义 |
spider-web, n.
Also spider's web.
1. A cobweb. Freq. fig. or in fig. context.
α1535Coverdale Job viii. 14 His confidence shalbe destroyed, for he trusteth in a spyders webbe. 1611Bible Isaiah lix. 5 They hatch cockatrice egges, and weaue the spiders web. 1725Fam. Dict. s.v. Spider, Some in France have made a sort of Silk of Spiders Webs. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Web, Spider's-Web, or Cob-Web. 1745Transl. & Paraph. Sc. Ch. xxiv. ii, As the spider's web, when try'd it yieldeth, breaks and flies.
βa1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. II, Wks. (1711) 28 Wise princes suffered houses to grow as men do spider-webs, not taking heed of them so long as they were small. 1822Byron Werner iv. i. 308 My destiny has so involved about me Her spider web. 1889Spectator 9 Nov., These spider-webs of fashion appear to confine the freedom of those who suffer under them more effectually than brick walls.
2. transf. and fig. Something resembling a cobweb in nature or appearance.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Spider's-web, the subtilties of Logic. 1864Browning Caliban upon Setebos 13 He looks out o'er yon sea which sunbeams cross And recross till they weave a spider-web. 1923G. McKnight English Words iv. 53 The early years of the war were productive in slang language among the British troops... Wire entanglements were fly traps and spider webs. 1957O. Nash You can't get there from Here 61 This is the most enticing spiderweb of a tarradiddle ever spun. 1978J. Carroll Mortal Friends ii. v. 187 He was running his finger along the cold pane of the window, making spiderwebs in the fog.
b. A variety of turquoise characterized by a network of fine dark lines running through it. Also spider-web turquoise.
1936M. Bedinger Navajo Indian Silver Work 18 There is another famous variety, of exceptionally good quality... It is a dark blue with black tracery all through it, which gives it the name of ‘Spider Web’ turquoise. 1968J. Sinkankas Van Nostrand's Standard Catalog Gems iv. 202 Persian spiderweb is similar except that a network of fine black lines divides the surface of the gem into a mosaic of even patches. 1975R. Webster Gems in Jewellery xiv. 79 The turquoise and the matrix of dark brown limonite or fawn-coloured sandstone are then cut together to give stones known as turquoise matrix or, if the veins are fine, spider web turquoise.
3. attrib. and Comb., as spider-web bridge, spider-web scales, etc. Also spider('s)-web-like.
1885J. E. Taylor Brit. Fossils i. 28 For the passage of spider's-web-like threads of protoplasm. 1891H. Herman His Angel 33 The spiderweb-like chaos of jagged beams. 1897Outing XXIX. 347/1 His father was old, and soon must cross the spider-web bridge, and leave his son to rule. 1898Weekly Reg. 10 Sept. 328 Away, then, Messieurs Rigourists, with your spider-web scales.
Hence spider-web v., (a) trans. to cover with a network resembling a spider-web; (b) intr. in various fig. uses (see quots.); spider-webby a., resembling a spider-web.
1823L. Hunt in Liberal II. 369 ‘What the devil's here? To bring my stockings home at last undone?’.. ‘Undone... They so spider-web, it's a despair.’ 1864Builder 16 Apr. 274/2 The doors became dingier, the areas and lobbies more spider-webby. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn ix. 74 The rain would thrash along by so thick that the trees off a little ways looked dim and spider-webby. 1894W. T. Stead If Christ came to Chicago iv. iii. 286 The town was being spider-webbed with wires. 1936I. L. Idriess Cattle King iv. 34 He and others have spider-webbed from around the Australian coasts far into the inland. 1974M. Hoyt Thirty Miles for Ice Cream x. 110 The deciduous trees, without their leaves, show at that distance as gray or a spider-webby black. |