spinneret

[spin-uh-ret, spin-uh-ret]

noun

an organ or part by means of which a spider, insect larva, or the like spins a silky thread for its web or cocoon.
a metal plate or cup with tiny holes through which a chemical solution is extruded to form continuous filaments, as of rayon, nylon, or polyester.

Origin of spinneret

First recorded in 1820–30; spinner + -et

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for spinneret

Historical Examples of spinneret

The silk is stiffened with a sort of gum as it comes out of the spinneret.
Makers of Many Things
Eva March Tappan
The following are magnified figures of the spinneret of the Cossus, from Lyonnet.
Insect Architecture
James Rennie
It is at once seized in the fangs, embraced by the legs and hung on to the spinneret.
The Life of the Spider
J. Henri Fabre
The labium or second maxillæ, so large in the moth, serves simply as a spinneret in the caterpillar.
Our Common Insects
Alpheus Spring Packard
When the Spider has laid her eggs, she begins to work her spinneret once more, but in a different manner.
Insect Adventures
J. Henri Fabre

British Dictionary definitions for spinneret

spinneret

noun

any of several organs in spiders and certain insects through which silk threads are exuded
a finely perforated dispenser through which a viscous liquid is extruded in the production of synthetic fibres

Word Origin for spinneret

C18: from spinner + -et

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 spinneret

"silk-spinning organ of a silkworm or spider," coined 1826, diminutive of spinner.

spinneret in Science

spinneret

[spĭn′ə-rĕt′]

One of the small openings in the back part of a spider or silk-producing insect larva, through which the sticky fluid that dries into silk is released.