Forms: 1 web, 1–2 webb, 3 weob, 3–8 webb, 4–5 veb(b, 4–7 webbe, 5–7 webe, 6 wabe, 3– web. Also Sc. and north. 6 vob, wobb(e, 6–9 wob, 7 woob, 8–9 wab. [OE. web(b neut., corresp. to OFris. web, wob (WFris. web, webbe, NFris. wêb, wāb), OS. webbi (MLG. and LG. webbe), MDu. and Du. webbe, web, OHG. wappi, weppi, webbi (MHG. weppe, webbe) neut., ON. vef-r masc. (genit. vefjar; Da. væv, Sw. väf):—OTeut. *wabjo-m, -z, f. *wað- ablaut-var. of *weð-: see WEAVE v.1]
I. 1. A woven fabric; spec. a whole piece of cloth in process of being woven or after it comes from the loom. Also collect., woven stuff. Often as cognate obj. to weave.
Regularly used to translate L. tela.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), T 89, 90. Telum, web. Textrinum, webb.
a. 1050. Liter Scintill. (1889), 216. Tela consummatur filis, webb byþ ʓefylled mid þrædum.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 39. Al swa nan webb ne mai bien iweuen wið-uten twa beames.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 322. Wule a weob beon, et one cherre, mid one watere wel ibleched?
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 157. A webe to wewen.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, 496. Þe wefand þat sheris down þe web are it be fulfild.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 92. Þenne I wussche hit [a new coat] weore myn, and al þe web aftur.
1382. Wyclif, Job vii. 6. My daȝes swiftliere passiden than of the weuere the web is kut of.
1514. Act 6 Hen. VIII., c. 9 § 2. The Weaver … to restore … the Surplus of the same Yarn, if any shall be left not put into the same Web.
1546. Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844), I. 236. Ane vob of tartane, contenand x ellis.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 38 b. Flaxe … being beaten to a softnesse, serueth for webbes of Linnen.
1629. Orkney Witch Trial, in County Folk-Lore (1903), III. 78. Christane Reid in Clett cam in ane maid errand, seiking woft to ane wob.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, IX. 633. Her Hand the Web forsakes.
1789. Burns, Robin shure in hairst. I gaed up to Dunse, To warp a wab o’ plaiden.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 835/2. The breast-bar, a smooth square beam in which there is an opening to let the web through as it is wove.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 81. A whole web or piece of calico is printed by them in three minutes.
1849. M. Arnold, Sick King in Bokhara, 8. Ye shall pay Each fortieth web of cloth to me, As the law is.
1854. Surtees, Handley Cr. (1901), I. i. 5. Peter was dressed like his master—coat, waistcoat, and breeches of the same web.
1909. R. Law, Tests of Life, xv. 312. The pattern of the cloth is more clearly displayed in the web than in the patch.
in figurative context. 1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 114. Should I … recant now in mine aged years,… and as it were begin a new webbe?
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Oct., 102. Vnwisely weaues, that takes two webbes in hand.
1587. Greene (title), Penelope’s Web.
1771. Wesley, Jrnl., 6 Sept. How long shall we be constrained to weave Penelope’s web?
† b. ? A breadth of woven material. So med.L. tela, OF. toile (Du Cange).
c. 1460. Invent. Sir J. Fastolfe, in Archæologia, XXI. 263. ij fustian Blanketts, every of hem vj webbys.
1465. Paston Lett., III. 435. ij. payr shytes of iij. webbys, ij. hedshytes of ij. webbys, vj. payre shytes of ij. webbys.
c. transf. and fig. Something likened to a woven fabric; something of complicated structure or workmanship. Also, the texture of such a fabric.
1599. Alex. Hume, Hymns, i. 10. Skarse nature yet my face about, Hir virile wob had spun.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, IV. iii. 83. The webbe of our life is of a mingled yarne, good and ill together.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), To Rdr. Some there be who may object to the silly web of my stile.
1663. Charleton, Chorea Gigant., 28. Having thus, thread after thread, unravell’d Mr Jones his long Web of Reasons, which he thought so closely and artificially woven, as to be strong enough to bind his Readers to a belief of his Opinion, that Stone-heng was a Roman Structure.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., A Royal Poet, I. 171. That passionate and fanciful amour, which has woven into the web of his story the magical hues of poetry and fiction.
1822. Hazlitt, Table-t., Ser. II. v. (1869), 122. The web and texture of the universe … is a mystery to them.
1860. Motley, Netherl., I. i. 24. The web of diplomatic negotiation and court intrigue which had been slowly spreading over the leading states of Christendom.
1894. Lady M. Verney, Verney Mem., III. 108. Sir Ralph … is soon trying to disentangle the complicated web of John Denton’s debts.
1917. O. Wildridge, Captains & Co., xx. 235. His cheeks had a web of criss-cross wrinkles.
d. Used for WARP. lit. and fig.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Liciatorium, a weauers shyttel, or a sylke womans tauell, wheron sylke or threde beinge wounden, is shot through the web or lome.
a. 1644. Quarles, Sol. Recant., X. 51. How mungrell nature weaves Wisdome and Folly in the self-same Loome, Like webbe and woof.
1781. Cowper, Expost., 331. He … Strikes the rough thread of error right athwart The web of ev’ry scheme they have at heart.
1862. Goulburn, Pers. Relig., I. iv. (1873), 38. Service and prayer are the web and woof of the Christian life.
1883. Ogilvie, Web, locally, the warp in a loom.
2. An article made of woven stuff (e.g., a garment, tapestry, a winding-sheet). Also collect. woven stuff of a particular material or pattern. Now chiefly literary or arch.
In quot. c. 1205 gode webbe app. represents OE. godweb, godeweb, ‘fine linen,’ etc., the first element being perh. interpreted as = ‘good.’
Beowulf, 995. Goldfaʓ scinon web æfter waʓum.
c. 1205. Lay., 19947. Iscrud mid gode webbe. Ibid. (c. 1275), 22584. Þe king … caste on his rugge swiþe riche webbes.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 1523. All þe wawis withoute in webis of ynde.
1560. Rolland, Seven Sages, 19. The riche Badkins, the coistlie veluot wobbis.
c. 1590. Greene, Fr. Bacon, III. i. 992. If Phœbus tired in Latonas webs Came courting.
1757. Dyer, Fleece, II. 540. What nation did not seek, Of thy new-modell’d wool, the curious webs? Ibid., III. 59. A diff’rent spinning ev’ry diff’rent web Asks from your glowing fingers.
1791. Hamilton, Berthollet’s Dyeing, I. 133. Common woollen stocking web.
1813. J. Thomson, Inflammation, 283. Linen cloth is the web on which the plaster is commonly spread.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, III. ix. Kneeling down at the bedside and kissing the sheets out of respect for the web that was to hold the sacred person of a King.
1867. Morris, Jason, VI. 477. With richest webs the marble walls were hung.
1870. Rossetti, Staff & Scrip, xxx. Fair flew my web [a banner].
1883. Miss Broughton, Belinda, II. vii. Costly fabrics and dainty webs.
† b. ? A kind of net for catching fish. Obs.
1533–4. Act 25 Hen. VIII., c. 7. To take or distroye in or by meanes of any wele … lepe hyve crele rawe webbe lister syer … the yonge frye … of any kynde of Salmon.
† c. A bandana or large handkerchief. Obs.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr., IV. iv. 369. The waste cotton-shrub, have ye not … made it into beautiful bandana webs?
1850. ‘Sylvanus,’ Bye-lanes & Downs, iv. 53. The inimitable web of cambric carefully folded. Ibid., vi. 74. The flash, reared up fellow, in the light blue pantaloons and huge web of satin round his neck!
† d. pl. Stockinet pantaloons ? nonce-use.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Sutherl. (Colburn), 27. Our tall friend in the webs.
3. A band of material woven strongly without pile. Also collect. = WEBBING. Cf. GIRTH-WEB.
1337–8. [see WAME-TOW].
1395. [see WAME-TOW attrib.].
1794. in Jrnl. Friends’ Hist. Soc. (1918), 7. The Coffin was … lowered down with Ropes and Webb.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 115. Procure two yards, more or less, of web, of broad tape, or cloth listing.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib. Brit., II. No. 3841. Elastic gusset webs. Ibid., No. 4962. The elastic web is so placed as to allow the free rising of the instep.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Web 5. (Vehicle.) Stout bands of textile fabric, used as straps to limit the extension of the hood.
b. attrib. (and Comb.). Made of webbing.
1844. Queen’s Regul. Army, 351. A web-headed halter with two reins.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, x. Have you no … breaking-bit, or web surcingle?
1915. ‘Ian Hay,’ First Hundred Thou., I. viii. 89–90. Sam Browne belts have been wisely discarded by the officers in favour of web-equipment.
1915. P. Macgill, Amateur Army, 100. Web-belts were cleaned, and every speck of mud and grease removed.
4. A cobweb. Also applied to the filmy textures spun by some caterpillars. Also collect. sing.
So L. tela, F. toile.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 468. Ðe spinnere … werpeð ðus hire web.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter lxxxix. 10. As þe erayn makes vayn webbes forto take fleghis with gile.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., I. $ 3. Thi Riet shapen in manere of a net or of a webbe of a loppe.
a. 1400. Nominale (Skeat), 625. Vn teile de filaundre, A web of gossomer.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 23576. The place is not … Clenly kept with reuerence; For beforn, and ek behynde, Yraynes and webbes men may fynde.
14[?]. in W. of Henley’s Husb. (1890), 55. Yeff ye se at morowe a dewe vpon þe grounde that is callid webe off arayne hongynge vpon þe grasse.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 219. Her bodye was … full of that laune wherof they make their webbes.
1606. N. B[axter], Sydney’s Ourania, G 3 b. Th’ admirable Silke-worme Whose daintie webbe doth cloath potentates.
1718. Poor Robin, Feb. A 5 b. Cut Caterpillars Webbs from Tops Of Twigs.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., VIII. 22. Some [caterpillars] spin themselves a cone or web, in which they lie secure till they have arrived at maturity.
1823. Byron, Juan, X. lxxxiv. With a soft besom will I sweep your halls, And brush a web or two from off the walls.
1859. Tennyson, Vivien, 108. A gilded summer fly Caught in a great old tyrant spider’s web.
1869. J. J. Weir, in Trans. Entom. Soc., I. 21. Larvæ which spin webs … are eaten by birds, but not with avidity; they appear very much to dislike the web sticking to their beaks.
1879. Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., xvii. 317. At the end of September … acres of furze may be seen covered with web in the morning.
b. A single thread or line spun by a spider, used in optical instruments; = COBWEB 1 b.
1877. Ld. Lindsay & D. Gill, in Dun Echt Observ. Publ., II. 11. The webs a, b, c, d, and f are all attached to the frame which is moved by the micrometer screw.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XVI. 248/1. A spider … is caught … and placed on a wire fork. The insect immediately attaches a web to the wire…. This web is wound up on the fork till ten or twelve turns … have been secured.
c. fig.; esp. (a) a subtly woven snare or entanglement; (b) something flimsy and unsubstantial; fanciful reasoning or the like. Cf. COBWEB 3.
When the spider is not indicated in the context, it is often difficult to decide whether the quot. belongs here or to 1 c.
1574. Mirr. Mag., Q. Elstride, xxvi. O wretched wight bewrapt in webbes of woe.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades, I. i. 5. They taught that man … by his owne faulte,… brought into the worlde death and damnation, together with a webbe of miseries, out of which it can not ridde it selfe.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. i. 169. With as little a web as this, will I ensnare as great a Fly as Cassio.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. iv. § 5. 19. The Schoole-men … did out of no great quantitie of matter, and infinite agitation of wit, spin out into vs those laborious webbes of Learning which are extant in their Bookes.
1672. Dryden, 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada, I. ii. (end). I … Silk-wormlike, so long within have wrought, That I am lost in my own Webb of thought.
1838. Prescott, Ferd. & Is., I. Introd. 88. The law seemed only the web to ensnare the weak.
1841. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xxiii. He … felt that accident and artifice had spun a web about him.
1859. H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, vi. He is entangled in a web of crime and guilt from which there is no escape.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s Field, 780. Who wove coarse webs to snare her purity, Grossly contriving their dear daughter’s good.
5. Paper-making. a. An endless wire-cloth working on rollers and carrying the pulp. b. A large sheet or roll of paper made in this way.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 369. A horizontal frame,… furnished with a roller or cylinder at each end, over which is stretched an endless web of brass wire, of the requisite texture or fineness for the paper about to be manufactured…. The web proceeds slowly forward with a tremulous motion, which arranges and disperses the pulp regularly over the whole surface of the web.
1854. C. Tomlinson, Obj. Art-Manuf., Paper, 30. A continuous or endless web of wire cloth, stretched over two or more revolving rollers.
1854. Tomlinson’s Cycl. Usef. Arts, II. 263/1. An endless wire-cloth, over which the web of paper is formed.
1855. Herring, Paper & Paper Making, 76. The web, as it is termed by the paper-maker, being thus severed longitudinally.
1867. Tomlinson’s Cycl. Usef. Arts, III. 514/2. White paper, supplied by the papermaker in large rolls of web, about 18 inches in diameter.
II. 6. A tissue or membrane in an animal body or in a plant. Also applied to similar pathological formations.
c. 1290. St. Michael, 720, in S. Eng. Leg., 320. A smal weob it [the fœtus] bicluppez al aboute, to holden it togadere faste.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. i. (Tollemache MS.). Sumtyme an ey haþ twey ȝolkes, þat ben distingued a tuo by on webbe and call [una tela].
1541. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Cyrurg., E iij b. The sayde webbe or tunycle called Rethina.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Ear, A delicate Web, that lines the Vestibulum, Cochlea, &c.
1807. J. E. Smith, Phys. Bot., 324. The five filaments of the Celosia, Cock’s-comb, are connected at their lower part by a membranous web.
a. 1827. Good, Study Med. (1829), III. 511. When these sinuosities are first formed or scooped out, their walls are soft, irritable, and of the common cellular web.
1899. Syd. Soc. Lex., Web, in Anat., any membrane-like, semi-transparent structure.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 812. Chronic stenosis of the larynx,… due to … the formation of membranous webs.
attrib. 1876. trans. E. Wagner’s Gen. Pathol., 167. The circulation in the web-membrane is retarded after closure of the femoral artery.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 812. Cicatricial web formations [in the larynx] should be divided by cutting dilators.
b. The omentum or caul of cattle.
1808. Jamieson, Web, the covering of the entrails, the cawl, or omentum, apparently denominated from its resemblance to something that is woven.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, s.v., ‘The web of the body’; the omentum.
1842. J. Aiton, Domest. Econ. (1857), 212. Meal is understood to darken the flesh, web, and lights of the animal [a calf].
† 7. A thin white film or opacity growing over the eye; a kind of cataract, albugo, leucoma, or pterygium. Also pin and web: see PIN sb.1 11. Also fig. Obs.
1387. T. Usk, Test. Love, I. ii. 180. That hath caused my cominge in-to this prison, to voyde the webbes of thyne eyen, to make thee clerely to see the errours thou hast ben in.
1388. Wyclif, Tobit vi. 9. To anoynte iȝen, in whiche is a web.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. xvi. (1495), 234. Another euyll of the eyen we calle a webbe and Constantin calleth it Albugo and Pannus.
c. 1400. Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), xii. Sometyme commeth to þe houndes sekenes in hir eyenn, for þer commeth a webbe vpon hem and waxynge flesshe.
1464. Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 280. For a webbe and a pynne in yhe.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Suffusio, a webbe in the eye.
c. 1575. Perf. Bk. Kepinge Sparhawkes (1886), 31. Pyn or Web or other dymnes by strokes &c. must be spedely loked unto.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 28. If a horsse haue a web in his eye.
1622. Banister, Treat. Eyes, VI. iii. H 8. Of the webbe or cataract, called in Greeke, hypochyma, in Latin, suffusio, gutta, aqua, imaginatio.
a. 1638. Mede, Wks. (1672), 645. Lord! that the whole strain of Scripture … should not cure this web, and take this filme from the eyes of men!
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 67. Drop a drop or two at a time into the Eye, and it takes away all … Spots, Webs, or any other Disorder whatever.
a. 1827. Good, Study Med. (1829), IV. 220. This opacity [caligo], as well as the pterygium, was denominated a ‘web of the eye,’ from its giving the idea of a film spreading across the sight.
† b. gen. A crust or film. Obs.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., I. 61. [The candle] alwayes supporting it selfe aboue the water, by a thin crust or webbe, which it worketh about the flame in the nature of Camphire.
8. The membrane or fold of skin that connects the digits of an animal; esp. that which connects the toes of an aquatic bird or beast, forming a palmate foot.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, lxxiii. 201. They [sc. otters] are footed like a Goose: I meane they haue a webbe betweene theyr clawes.
1768. Pennant, Brit. Zool. (1776), II. 533. The lower part of the toes and webs black. Ibid., 548. Mr. Ray calls this a cloven-footed gull; as the webs are depressed in the middle, and form a crescent.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., IV. 150. Each foot [of the otter] is furnished with five toes, connected by strong broad webs like those of water fowl.
1813. J. Thomson, Inflammation, 77. The capillary vessels in the web of the foot of the frog.
1842. Tennyson, Morte d’Arthur, 269. Like some full-breasted swan That … takes the flood With swarthy webs.
1894. Crockett, Raiders, xxvi. 226. My hands pricked at the thin fine skin between the fingers that we call the webs.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 265. The burrows [of the itch insect] will generally be found in the webs between the fingers and toes.
b. Path. An extension of the normal fold that occurs as a congenital malformation in the human hand or foot.
1866. Barwell, in Med. Press, 25 April, 416. On examining the fingers I found them connected together, not merely by a thin web, but by a thick layer of tissue covered … by skin from corresponding parts of the fingers.
1876. T. Bryant, Pract. Surg. (ed. 2), II. 300. When the fingers are well formed, the Surgeon should, if possible, divide the web.
9. The series of barbs on each side of the shaft of a bird’s feather; the vane or vexillum.
1713. Derham, Phys.-Theol., VII. i. 375, note. The Mechanism of the Vanes, or Webs of the Feathers.
1768. Pennant, Brit. Zool. (1776), II. 590. The greater quil feathers are black; the exterior webs of the next are a fine green.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 216. First feather of the tail white, with a black square spot on the interior web.
1837. Gould, Birds Europe, V. Pl. 372. The shaft and the narrow inner web white; the outer web broad and deep bluish black.
1893. Gadow, in Newton, Dict. Birds, 239. The rami, radii, and cilia compose the inner and outer web, vane, or vexillum of the feather.
III. 10. A sheet of lead, such as is used for roofing and for coffins. ? Obs.
Cf. med.L. tela plumbi.: 1312, Acc. Exch. K. R., 492/18 m. 2 (P.R.O.).
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XXI. xi. 857. After she was put in a webbe of leed & than in a coffyn of marbyl.
1489. in Peck, Desid. Curiosa (1735), II. VII. 10. For the Balmynge, Fencyng and Scowering of the Corse, with the Webbe of Led and Chest.
1555. Inv. Ch. Goods York, etc. (Surtees 97), 152. Leade. In the covering upon the same colledge Ml Dxiiij square yerdes of webbe.
1577. in Assoc. Archit. Soc. Rep. (1866), VIII. 301. One webb of Lead liynge in the gutter within the said battlement cont. in lenght lijxx. yardes and in bredth one yarde.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, X. xxvi. And there with stately pompe by heapes they wend, And Christians slaine rolle vp in webs of lead.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXXI. vi. II. 411. Those pipes be called properly in Latin Denariæ, the web or sheet whereof beareth ten fingers in breadth.
1660. Churchw. Acc. Pittington, etc. (Surtees), 197. For taking upp the high roofe of the leades and laying the webbs againe.
1852. R. Burn, Naval & Mil. Dict., II. s.v., Web of lead, feuille de plomb.
† b. A quantity of glass. Cf. WAY sb.2 Obs.
1545–1656. [see WAY sb.2].
11. The piece of bent iron that forms a horseshoe.
1587. Mascall, Cattle, Horses (1596), 156. Make your shooes with a broade webbe.
1639. T. de Grey, Compl. Horsem., 111. That no gravell be remaining betwixt the web of the shoo and the sole.
1725. Bradley’s Family Dict., s.v. Shoeing, The Shoe must be made of Spanish Iron, with a broad Web, fitting it to the Hoof.
1831. Youatt, Horse, xvii. 312. The inside part of the web is bevelled off, or rendered concave, that it may not press upon the sole.
1908. Animal Managem. (War Office), 227. The whole of the substance of the shoe is called the ‘web.’
12. † a. The blade of a sword or of a carpenter’s plane; the iron head of an axe or hatchet. Obs.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, II. xciii. A sword, whereof the web was steele. Ibid., VII. xciv. The brittle web of that rich sword.
1676. Depos. Cast. York (Surtees), 223. This informant got hold of the head or web of the ax.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., R 3 b. This [Rudder] we use to let in the ends of Sliders, or Headtrees, where the Web of the Hack is too short for the purpose.
1812. P. Nicholson, Mech. Exerc., Joinery, 204. Web of an Iron, is the broad part of it which comes to the sole of the plane, the upper edge or end of the web has generally one shoulder, and sometimes two, where it joins the tang.
b. (See quot.)
1784. J. Small, Ploughs, 13. The web may be three inches broad at the broadest, and taper from a foot down all the way to the point.
1819. Rees, Cycl., Web of a Coulter,… that part of it which is drawn out thin and sharp, in order to cut and separate the ground…. In the sock, too, any thin sharp part has the name of web or wing.
c. The detachable long narrow blade of a frame-saw or fret-saw. Cf. web-saw.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 330. It [the Grecian saw] consists of a square frame, having in the middle a blade or web, the teeth of which stand perpendicular to the plane of the frame.
1846. Holtzapffel, Turning, etc., II. 725. The mill-saw webs [are used] for cutting deals into thin boards.
1866. Chambers’s Encycl., VIII. 508/1. The Ribbon-saw … consists of a very long band—or web, as it is called—of steel, usually very narrow, and with finely-cut teeth.
13. The bit of a key; also, each of the ‘steps’ or incisions in this.
1773. W. Emerson, Princ. Mech. (ed. 3), 284. Web, the thin broad part of an instrument, as the web of a key.
1800. Trans. Soc. Arts, XVIII. 241. So that the webs or bits of the Key may clear the Tumblers in the lock.
1856. Jrnl. Brit. Archæol. Assoc., XII. 125. This key has a solid or blank web.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 6105. The ‘bits’ or steps on the ‘web’ of the key, that act on the levers inside the lock.
14. The vertical plate (or its equivalent) that connects the upper and lower laterally extending plates in a beam or girder. Also applied to each of these lateral plates or flanges.
1851. Dempsey, Builder’s Guide, 144. The two [flanges of the girder] are united by a vertical rib or web of just sufficient thickness to connect the flanges properly.
1856. Min. Proc. Inst. Civ. Engin., XV. 155. On the Relative Proportions of the Top, Bottom, and Middle Webs of Iron Girders and Tubes.
1862. Smiles, Engineers, III. 409. Cast-iron girders, with their lower webs considerably larger than their upper, were ordinarily employed where the span was moderate.
1870. B. Baker, Strengths of Beams, etc., 290. The experiments on the model tube for the Britannia bridge indicated clearly that diagonal strains, both compressive and tensile, occurred in the webs of the tube.
1877. W. H. White, Nav. Archit., ix. 333. So long as the beam is in one piece, or so long as the pieces forming its web are well connected together edgewise, there is no difficulty in meeting this racking strain.
1892. Dict. Arch. (Arch. Publ. Soc.), Web. The iron plate, fixed vertically, in a single web girder; or two plates in a tubular girder.
b. The upright portion between the tread and the bottom flange of a rail. † Formerly applied to the tread and the bottom flange (upper, lower web); also to the upright ridge of an edge-rail.
1838. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 169/1. The lower web is, in some examples, not so wide as the upper web by nearly half an inch.
1840. H. S. Tanner, Canals & Rail Roads U. S., 156. Which lip extends upwards and laps over the lower web of the rails on that side. Ibid., 264. Web, the outer projection of a rail, intended to prevent the wheels of carriages from running off the track.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XX. 225/1. There was a waste of metal in these early rails … owing to the excessive thickness of the vertical web.
c. The arm of a crank, connecting the shaft and the wrist.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech.
1884. Manch. Exam., 27 Aug., 4/7. Cranks having the additional strength provided by an increase of metal in the webs of the crank itself.
1889. Hasluck, Model Engin. Handybk., 79. It is best to turn the shaft and outsides of the crank webs first; the insides and the pin can be turned after.
d. The thinner part of an anvil, between the head and the base.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 120/2. Body or web of the anvil.
e. (See quot.)
1908. Paasch, Dict. Naval Terms (ed. 4), 770. Web,… that part of a boat-oar, between the blade and the loom.
f. In a sheave (see quot.).
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 153. Web, the thin partition on the inside of the rim, and between the spokes of an iron sheave.
g. A solid disk connecting the center and the rim of a wheel, instead of spokes.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Web 3. That portion of a car-wheel which extends between the hub and the rim. Ibid., s.v. Web-wheel, Clock and watch wheels are cast or stamped with webs and then crossed out.
15. The basketwork of a gabion.
1852. R. Burn, Naval & Mil. Dict., II. s.v., Web of a gabion, hurdle, &c., clayonnage.
1859. F. A. Griffiths, Artil. Man. (1862), 255. Gabions are … 2 feet 9 inches high, in the web.
16. Mining. (See quots.)
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, Web, the face or wall of a long-wall stall in course of being holed and broken down for removal. The web varies in thickness (according to the height of the seam) from 2 or 3 to 7 feet. Fig. 135 shows a cross-section of a long-wall with a web of coals after drawing the timber.
1886. J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 51. Plane, a working room driven at right angles to or facing the plane joints. Ibid., 72. Web, the plane.
17. Math. A tangential net.
1911. Webster, s.v. Net, But if [represented] in line coordinates, the net is tangential or a web.
IV. 18. Comb., as web-like adj.; web-fingered a., having the fingers united for a considerable part of their length by a fold of skin; also, applied to a fish, Prionotus carolinus or palmipes; web-frame, (a) the frame to which the spider-threads are attached in a filar micrometer; (b) in iron ship-building (see quot.); † web-garn [GARN sb.], weaver’s yarn; † web-lace (see quot.); web-lead, sheet-lead; † web-loom, a weaver’s loom; web-machine, web-(perfecting) press, a printing machine that is automatically supplied with paper from a roll or web (see 5); web-plate (see quot. 1908); web-printing, printing on a web-press; web-saw, a frame-saw; † web-stand, a folding tray-stand with a top composed of strips of webbing; web-toed a., web-footed; web-weaver, in quots. applied to a spider; web-wheel (see quot. and 14 g); web-work, a tissue like that of a woven fabric; also fig.; web-worked a., worked with cobweb; web-worker, a spider that spins a web; web-worm U.S., a name for various lepidopterous larvæ that are more or less gregarious and spin large webs in which they feed or rest. Also WEB-BEAM, -FOOT, -FOOTED.
1781. Bland, in Phil. Trans., LXXI. 362. Of these [children] 1 was *web-fingered.
1844. Amer. Jrnl. Sci., XLVII. 59. Prionotus Carolinus, Cuv., Web-fingered Grunter.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour (1861), II. 137/1. He was, it is said, web-footed, naturally, and partially web-fingered.
1873. T. Gill, Catal. Fishes E. Coast N. Amer., 21. Prionotus carolinus … Web-fingered sea-robin; Carolina robin.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XVI. 248/2. As the *web-frame is generally thicker than the fork, the web will now be stretched across the former, with a certain amount of tension.
1898. Kipling, Day’s Work, 81. ‘I agree with you,’ said a huge web-frame by the main cargo-hatch.
1908. Paasch, Dict. Naval Terms (ed. 4), 81. Web-frames consist of strong plates fitted transversally to the frames to which they are riveted…. They serve for extra strength or in lieu of hold-beams, etc.
1440. York Memo. Bk. (Surtees), I. 78. That noon of the said craft shal make no capez of *webb garn nother blew ne meld nor noon other collour.
1801. Felton, Carriages (ed. 2), II. Gloss., *Webb Lace, a thick coarse kind of lace, mostly used for footman holders.
1894. Athenæum, 14 April, 482/3. The casting of *web lead for roofs.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 390. This *web-like expansion of the ethereal strings.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., ii. (1818), I. 31. The web-like nests [of the larva of Bombyx chrysorrhœa] which so often deform our fruit trees.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 29 Dec., 3/3. The silk Chantilly laces … are … very pretty and weblike.
1316. in Rock, Text. Fabr. (1870), 96. Pro *weblomes emptis, xx s.
1404. Rec. Borough Nottingham, 27 Aug., II. 22. Appretiatores unius wollyn weblome cum uno cam et j. slay.
1884. West. Daily Press, 16 Sept., 5/6. The splendid *web machines now in use.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., Web machines, cylindrical printing machines in which the paper is laid on by tapes.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., s.v. Web Printing-machine, The *web-press is a late improvement. Ibid. A *web perfecting-press.
1887. R. R. Bowker, in Harper’s Mag., 176/1. The web perfecting press, containing two printing cylinders, printing both sides of the paper, does away with feeders altogether.
1878. Schiller’s Technol. Dict., III. Web, *Web-plate (Iron ship-b.).
1908. Paasch, Dict. Naval Terms (ed. 4), 103. Web-plate. Term given to a plate of great breadth and thickness, as for instance to one forming a shifting-beam in a hatchway.
1890. W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 198. Printing from continuous paper is known as *‘web-printing,’ ‘roll-printing’ or ‘reel-printing.’
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Web-saw.
1889. Century Mag., Jan., 418/2. The web-saw, the glue-pot, the plane, and the hammer are the principal tools used.
1837. Fraser’s Mag., XV. 435. A large tray of glasses … stood in the room on a *web stand.
1872. Mivart, Anat., 236. In some cases these folds extend far along, binding the digits together, and causing the person so affected to be what is called ‘web-fingered’ or *‘web-toed.’
1884. Coues, Key N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2), 622. Macrorhamphus. Web-toed Snipe.
1550. Bale, Apol., 15 b. It hath bene so handeled and tosed amonge the spyders *webbe weuers of Babylon … that it is become moche larger both in length and bredthe than afore.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. xxxvii. 31. The instinct of a crippled spider so completely changed, that from a sedentary web-weaver it became a hunter.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Web-wheel, a wheel in which the hub and rim are connected by a web or plate, which is sometimes intact and sometimes perforated…. The term is applied in contradistinction to one with spokes.
1790. R. Merry, Laurel of Liberty (ed. 2), 10. A *web-work of despair, a mass of woes.
1812. [see VENOMED ppl. a. 2 c].
1862. Lytton, Str. Story, II. 199. The tyro who dissects the webwork of tissues and nerves in the dead.
1874. J. T. Moggridge, Suppl. to Harvesting Ants, 200. A glutinized, *web-worked purse, about three inches long.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 1071. All Net-workers, and *Web-workers amongst Spiders.
1841. T. W. Harris, Insects Inj. Vegetation (1862), 357. The little caterpillars known by the name of fall *web-worms, whose large webs … may be seen on our native elms, and also on apple and other fruit trees, in the latter part of summer.
1885. Manch. Exam., 14 July, 4/5. The webworm … did considerable damage to the stands.
1896. Lodeman, Spraying of Plants, 256. Fall Web-worm (Hyphantria cunea). Ibid., 325. Web-worm (Depressaria heraclina). Ibid., 352. Privet Web-worm (Margarodes quadristigmalis).
