spider-likeadv.adj.
A. adv.
In or after the manner of a spider; with the power of faculty (real or supposed) of a spider.Frequently in the 17th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > offensiveness > [adverb]
offensively1576
spider-like1604
verminously1847
fetidly1869
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [adverb]
spider-like1604
1604 S. Hieron Preachers Plea in Wks. (1620) I. 497 Mans corrupt nature, spider~like, turneth the wholesome doctrine into poison.
1673 J. Dryden Marriage a-la-Mode ii. i. 30 And when eyes meet far off, our sense is such, That, Spider-like, we feel the tender'st touch.
1783 ‘P. Pindar’ More Lyric Odes to Royal Academicians i. 5 Like him, in holes too, spider-like I mope.
?1819 Nesse's Antidote against Arminianism (new ed.) 117 If man, (spider-like) could spin a thread out of his own bowels.
1839 P. J. Bailey Festus 128 I have that within me I can live upon: Spider-like, spin my place out anywhere.
1868 Ld. Lytton Orval in New Poems II. 180 I cannot pass Where pathway none can be. Nor from myself Spin, spiderlike, a passage through the vast And vacant air.
B. adj.
Like or resembling a spider or that of a spider; having the characteristic appearance or qualities of a spider; spidery.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > offensiveness > [adjective]
bysenc1375
offensivea1548
nasty1548
beastly1584
whelpish1586
heathenish1592
viperous1593
vermin1602
verminousc1616
unchristian1630
verminian1640
rancida1646
verminly1653
spider-like1655
exceptionable1691
skunky1842
slaggy1943
schmucky1952
grotty1964
grody1965
society > morality > moral evil > wickedness > [adjective]
litherc893
unledeeOE
evil971
missOE
murkOE
unrighteousOE
unseelyOE
un-i-seliOE
unselec1050
wickc1175
foul-itowenc1225
unwrast?c1225
un-i-felec1275
wickedc1275
wrakefula1350
felonousc1374
unquertc1390
unperfect1395
felona1400
wanc1440
meschant?c1450
sinnyc1475
unselc1480
poison?1527
pernicious?1533
scelerous1534
viperous?1548
improbate1596
scelestious1609
scelestic1628
spider-like1655
dark-hearted1656
demonic1796
nineteda1798
sinful1863
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [adjective] > of or belonging to Araneida > of nature of spiders
spider-like1655
araneidiform1826
spidery1871
1655 W. Gouge & T. Gouge Learned Comm. Hebrewes (vi. 16) ii. 89 Some men have such a spider-like disposition, as they will suck poyson out of the sweetest flowers.
1754 W. Hay Deformity 18 I..often restrain my inclination to perform those little Services, rather than expose my Spider like Shape.
1806 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. VI. ii. 472 The present genus [sc. Phalangium], which, exclusive of its spider-like shape, is..armed with weapons resembling those of the genus Aranea.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge li. 233 Struggling to free himself from her chaste, but spider like embrace.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.adj.1604