cobweb

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a spider's web, especially an old, dusty, or irregular one

   A cobweb stretched between the rafters of the empty barn.

Simplified etymology

Cobweb developed from Middle English coppeweb or copweb, literally a spider’s web. Coppe or cop was an old word for a spider, shortened from Old English attercop, literally “poison head.” The form was later altered to cobweb.

From Middle English coppeweb or copweb, formed from the obsolete word coppe 'spider' + web. As coppe disappeared from ordinary use, cobweb survived as a compound whose first element was no longer transparent to speakers.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary