cobweb

[kob-web]

noun

1. a web spun by a spider to entrap its prey.

2. a single thread spun by a spider.

3. something resembling a cobweb; anything finespun, flimsy, or insubstantial.

4. a network of plot or intrigue; an insidious snare.

5. cobwebs, confusion, indistinctness, or lack of order.

   I'm so tired my head is full of cobwebs.

verb (used with object)

cobwebbed, cobwebbing 

1. to cover with or as with cobwebs.

   Spiders cobwebbed the cellar.

2. to confuse or muddle.

   Drunkenness cobwebbed his mind.

cobweb

/ ˈkɒbˌwɛb /

noun

1. a web spun by certain spiders, esp those of the family Theridiidae, often found in the corners of disused rooms

2. a single thread of such a web

3. something like a cobweb, as in its flimsiness or ability to trap

Other Word Forms

• cobwebbed adjective
• cobwebby adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cobweb¹

1275–1325; Middle English coppeweb, derivative of Old English -coppe spider (in ātorcoppe poison spider); cognate with Middle Dutch koppe; web

Word History and Origins

Origin of cobweb¹

C14 cob, from coppe, from Old English ( ātor ) coppe spider; related to Middle Dutch koppe spider, Swedish (dialect) etterkoppa

Example Sentences

The collection had been tucked under a pile of old newspapers and cobwebs in the attic of their family home, according to a press release from Heritage Auctions.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The brothers found six comic books, including Superman #1, in the attic underneath a stack of newspapers inside a cardboard box and surrounded by cobwebs in 2024, Heritage said in a press release.

Read more on BBC

For there, in the unsteady light, was Lord Fredrick Ashton himself, tangled in cobwebs that he tried in vain to bat away.

Read more on Literature

A layer of dust filmed the floor, and cobwebs drifted in every corner.

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Make a homemade spider toss game that transforms your living room floor into a huge cobweb.

Read more on Salon

When To Use

What does cobweb mean?

Cobweb is another word for a spider web. But cobweb is most commonly used to refer to the kind of dusty old spider webs that hang in the corners of places that haven’t been used or cleaned in a long time, like attics and abandoned houses.For that reason, cobweb is often used in expressions like clean out the cobwebs, meaning to do something to clear your mind or make it function normally again, perhaps after a period of inactivity or confusion.Cobweb can also be used as a verb, meaning to cover in cobwebs, as in No one had entered the study for years, and spiders had cobwebbed the entire bookcase.Example: The abandoned house was dusty and full of cobwebs.