spi·der (sp??d?r)n.1. Any of numerous arachnids of the order Araneae, having a body divided into a cephalothorax and an abdomen, eight legs, two chelicerae that bear venom glands, and two or more spinnerets that produce the silk used to make nests, cocoons, or webs for trapping insects.2. One that resembles a spider, as in appearance, character, or movement.3. A program that automatically retrieves webpages and follows the links on them to retrieve more webpages. Spiders are used by search engines to retrieve publicly accessible webpages for indexing, and they can also be used to check for links to webpages that no longer exist. Also called crawler, search bot.4. New England, Upper Northern, & South Atlantic US See frying pan.5. A trivet.[Middle English spither, from Old English sp?thra; see (s)pen- in Indo-European roots.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.spider (?spa?d?) n1. (Animals) any predatory silk-producing arachnid of the order Araneae, having four pairs of legs and a rounded unsegmented body consisting of abdomen and cephalothorax. See also wolf spider, trap-door spider, tarantula, black widow2. (Animals) any of various similar or related arachnids3. (Mechanical Engineering) a hub fitted with radiating spokes or arms that serve to transmit power or support a load4. (Agriculture) agriculture an instrument used with a cultivator to pulverize soil5. (Tools) any implement or tool having the shape of a spider6. (Nautical Terms) nautical a metal frame fitted at the base of a mast to which halyards are tied when not in use7. (Agriculture) any part of a machine having a number of radiating spokes, tines, or arms8. (Automotive Engineering) Also called: octopus Brit a cluster of elastic straps fastened at a central point and used to hold a load on a car rack, motorcycle, etc9. (Billiards & Snooker) billiards snooker a rest having long legs, used to raise the cue above the level of the height of the ball10. (Angling) angling an artificial fly tied with a hackle and no wings, perhaps originally thought to imitate a spider11. (Telecommunications) computing a computer program that is capable of performing sophisticated recursive searches on the internet12. (Automotive Engineering) short for spider phaeton[Old English sp?thra; related to Danish spinder, German Spinne; see spin]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014spi?der (?spa? d?r) n. 1. any of numerous predatory arachnids of the order Araneae, having a body divided into two parts, a cephalothorax bearing eight legs, and an abdomen with silk-secreting spinnerets: their webs serve as nests and as traps for prey. 2. (loosely) any of various other arachnids resembling these. 3. any of various devices with leglike extensions suggestive of a spider, as a tripod or trivet. 4. a frying pan, orig. one with legs for cooking on a hearth. 5. a machine part having a number of radiating spokes or arms. 6. a computer program that automatically retrieves Web pages for use by search engines. [before 1150; Middle English spithre, Old English sp?thra, akin to spinnan to spin; compare Dan spinder] Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.spidercobweb – A single thread spun by a spider.arain – Another word for spider.lobster – Comes from Old English loppestre, “spider,” because there is some resemblance.insect, spider, crustacean – One major difference between insects, spiders, and crustaceans is the antennae; most insects have one pair, spiders have none, and crustaceans have two pairs.Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.spiderA program that searches the Internet for previously unknown web pages or other publicly accessible documents so that they can be included in the databases of Internet search engines. Also known as a crawler or webcrawler.Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited