cobweb

[kob-web]

noun

a web spun by a spider to entrap its prey.

a single thread spun by a spider.

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

a network of plot or intrigue; an insidious snare.

cobwebs, confusion, indistinctness, or lack of order: I'm so tired my head is full of cobwebs.

verb (used with object), cob·webbed, cob·web·bing.

to cover with or as with cobwebs: Spiders cobwebbed the cellar.

to confuse or muddle: Drunkenness cobwebbed his mind.

Origin of cobweb

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cobwebs

That he ends up not lighting a lamp but tangled in the cobwebs is one of the truths of this valuable book.
Slaves In A Family's Past Haunt The Present|Michael Signer|August 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Gregg sent me a video and in it, they describe it as “clearing the cobwebs from the air” and “stepping over a dead body.”
Shailene Woodley Opens Up About Coming of Age, ‘Divergent,’ and the Faults in Our World|Marlow Stern|January 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That night, I dreamed of a square, three-story, concrete building that was dark and dingy with filth, dust, and cobwebs.
A Brigham Young University Professor’s Escape from Mormonism|Lynn K. Wilder|October 20, 2013|DAILY BEAST
I was free, and getting to my feet began quietly to brush the shreds of cobwebs from face and clothes.
Old Farm Fairies:|Henry Christopher McCook

And he 309must needs have Tiny Tim, also, to banish the cobwebs from his soul with his fervent “God bless us every one.”
The Vitalized School|Francis B. Pearson
Gradually the night air swept away the cobwebs, and he began to see things in a clearer light.
The Hero of Garside School|J. Harwood Panting
Well, there's a little more packin' to do; then I thought I'd go down to that parsonage and take a whack at the cobwebs.
Keziah Coffin|Joseph C. Lincoln
She always blew his cobwebs away like this, with a puff of humorous mountain air.
The Longest Journey|E. M. Forster

British Dictionary definitions for cobwebs

cobwebs

pl n

mustiness, confusion, or obscurity

informal stickiness of the eyelids experienced upon first awakening

cobweb

noun

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

a single thread of such a web

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

Derived Formscobwebbed, adjectivecobwebby, adjective

Word Origin for cobweb

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cobwebs

cobweb

early 14c., coppewebbe; the first element is Old English -coppe, in atorcoppe "spider," literally "poison-head" (see attercop). Spelling with -b- is from 16c., perhaps from cob. Cob as a stand-alone for "a spider" was an old word nearly dead even in dialects when J.R.R. Tolkien used it in "The Hobbit" (1937).