Web \Web\, n. [OE. web, AS. webb; akin to D. web, webbe, OHG.
weppi, G. gewebe, Icel. vefr, Sw. v["a]f, Dan. v[ae]v. See
Weave.]
1. That which is woven; a texture; textile fabric; esp.,
something woven in a loom.
Penelope, for her Ulysses' sake, Devised a web her
wooers to deceive. --Spenser.
Not web might be woven, not a shuttle thrown, or
penalty of exile. --Bancroft.
2. A whole piece of linen cloth as woven.
3. The texture of very fine thread spun by a spider for
catching insects at its prey; a cobweb. ``The smallest
spider's web.'' --Shak.
4. Fig.: Tissue; texture; complicated fabrication.
The somber spirit of our forefathers, who wove their
web of life with hardly a . . . thread of rose-color
or gold. --Hawthorne.
Such has been the perplexing ingenuity of
commentators that it is difficult to extricate the
truth from the web of conjectures. --W. Irving.
5. (Carriages) A band of webbing used to regulate the
extension of the hood.
6. A thin metal sheet, plate, or strip, as of lead.
And Christians slain roll up in webs of lead.
--Fairfax.
Specifically:
(a) The blade of a sword. [Obs.]
The sword, whereof the web was steel, Pommel
rich stone, hilt gold. --Fairfax.
(b) The blade of a saw.
(c) The thin, sharp part of a colter.
(d) The bit of a key.
7. (Mach. & Engin.) A plate or thin portion, continuous or
perforated, connecting stiffening ribs or flanges, or
other parts of an object. Specifically:
(a) The thin vertical plate or portion connecting the
upper and lower flanges of an lower flanges of an iron
girder, rolled beam, or railroad rail.
(b) A disk or solid construction serving, instead of
spokes, for connecting the rim and hub, in some kinds
of car wheels, sheaves, etc.
(c) The arm of a crank between the shaft and the wrist.
(d) The part of a blackmith's anvil between the face and
the foot.
8. (Med.) Pterygium; -- called also webeye. --Shak.
9. (Anat.) The membrane which unites the fingers or toes,
either at their bases, as in man, or for a greater part of
their length, as in many water birds and amphibians.
10. (Zo["o]l.) The series of barbs implanted on each side of
the shaft of a feather, whether stiff and united together
by barbules, as in ordinary feathers, or soft and
separate, as in downy feathers. See Feather.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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