retiaryn.adj.
/ˈriːʃɪəri/, /ˈrɛtɪəri/, U.S. /ˈriʃiˌɛri/ A. n.† 2. = retiary spider n. at sense B. 1b. Obsolete. rare.
1. Roman History. = retiarius n.rare after 18th cent.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > gladiatorial combat > [noun] > gladiator > armed with a net
net-braider1440
net-caster1587
retiarius1598
retiary1633
net-worker1639
net-bearer1647
retiarian1802
1633 W. Prynne Histrio-mastix i. f. 522v Can he be moved with compassion, who is wholy intent upon the biting of Beares, and the spunges of retiaries?
1661 T. Blount Glossographia (ed. 2) Retiary, he that casts a net, properly in fighting to take his enemy.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacrae 279 Their intent was only like the retiaries in the Roman Spectacles to catch their adversaries in a net; to entangle them with some captious question or other.
1747 J. Spence Polymetis vii. xiv. 262 That sort of their gladiators..were called Retiaries, from the nets in which they used to entangle their adversaries.
1785 E. Owen tr. Juvenal Satires I. viii. 183 He, in a retiary's ignobler plight, with net and trident tempts the distant fight.
1906 F. C. de Sumichrast tr. T. Gautier Capt. Fracasse in Wks. XIX. 23 Sigognac was fighting to get clear of the folds of the sham mendicant's cloak, just like a retiary caught in his adversary's net.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Aranea > suborder Labidognatha or Dipneumones > member of family Argiopidae
retiary spider1658
geometrical spider1815
geometric spider1815
retiary1835
Epeirid1881
orb-weaver1883
magnificent spider1936
orb-web spider1945
orb spider1983
1835 W. Kirby On Power of God in Creation of Animals II. xvii. 184 I shall consider those [spiders] I intend to notice, under the usual names of weavers and retiaries.
1887 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. VI. i. 124/1 Retiariæ, retiaries; spiders which spin webs to catch their prey.
B. adj.
1. † b. retiary spider n. Obsolete a spider which constructs an orb web; an orb-weaving spider.
a. Of or relating to the making of nets or netlike structures, such as a spider's web. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > [adjective] > other methods of
retiary1658
Tuscan1830
looping1854
1658 Sir T. Browne Garden of Cyrus ii, in Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall 108 And beside this kinde of work in Retiarie and hanging textures, in embroderies, and eminent needle-works [etc.].
1854 C. D. Badham Prose Halieutics 197 No other combination of meshes can convey such an idea of human ingenuity and inventiveness in the retiary art.
1896 N. Webster Collegiate Dict. Telary, of or pert. to a web; spinning webs; retiary.
1907 W. Hurt Scarlet Shadow xiv. 110 That cunning old spider, McFarlane..was elated that his plexiform plans had worked out so well their retiary results.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Aranea > suborder Labidognatha or Dipneumones > member of family Argiopidae
retiary spider1658
geometrical spider1815
geometric spider1815
retiary1835
Epeirid1881
orb-weaver1883
magnificent spider1936
orb-web spider1945
orb spider1983
1658 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica (ed. 3) v. xix. 221 We will not dispute the Pictures of Retiary [1646 Telary] Spiders, and their position in the web.
1815 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (1818) I. xiii. 421 (note) May not the spinners..be peculiar to the retiary spiders, and furnish this viscid thread?
1882 Jrnl. Royal Microsc. Soc. 1 120 The webs of the Retiary Spiders have each a distinct character.
2.
a. That fights with a net; using a net like a retiarius. Also figurative. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > gladiatorial combat > [adjective] > using a net as weapon
retiary1658
retiarian1730
1658 Sir T. Browne Garden of Cyrus ii, in Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall 109 That the networks..of antiquity were little different in the form from ours,..is confirmable from the nets in the hands of the Retiarie gladiators.
a1682 Sir T. Browne Christian Morals (1716) i. 25 Our inward Antagonists,..like Retiary and Laqueary Combatants, with Nets, Frauds, and Entanglements fall upon us.
a1834 S. T. Coleridge Lit. Remains (1838) III. 298 Let not the surpassing eloquence of Taylor dazzle you, nor his scholastic retiary versatility of logic illaqueate your good sense.
1986 D. E. Green tr. G. J. Botterweck et al. Theol. Dict. Old Testam. V. 200 The net symbolized victory over enemies, as well as the judicial sovereignty of the deity and the king. In the later period, only gods are described as retiary warriors.
b. Of the nature of a net; net-like; using or involving a net or nets. Also figurative. Now chiefly literary.
ΚΠ
1854 C. D. Badham Prose Halieutics xv. 328 A retiary apparatus was carefully drawn across the stream.
1885 Decisions Dept. Interior & Gen. Land Office: Cases relating to Public Lands III. 237 There exists a retiary system of subterraneous ancient or pliocene channels.
1889 Amer. Geol. 3 201 Peculiar net-like arms. But..the retiary radial appendages are only highly differentiated arms.
1917 C. Van Vechten Interpreters & Interpr. 70 The play becomes the more vivid as it is obvious that the retiary meshes with which she ensnares Athanaël are strong enough to entangle any of us.
1967 V. Nabokov Speak, Memory (rev. ed.) vi. 131 America has shown even more of this morbid interest in my retiary activities.
1994 J. Winterson Art & Lies (1996) 132 Who lied to you and bound you? Who called their meshes your own good? Retiary malice of the unfree to the flying?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1633