Web

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}.] [1913 Webster] 1. That which is woven; a texture; textile fabric; esp., something woven in a loom. [1913 Webster]

Penelope, for her Ulysses' sake, Devised a web her wooers to deceive. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]

Not web might be woven, not a shuttle thrown, or penalty of exile. --Bancroft. [1913 Webster]

2. A whole piece of linen cloth as woven. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

4. Fig.: Tissue; texture; complicated fabrication. [1913 Webster]

The somber spirit of our forefathers, who wove their web of life with hardly a . . . thread of rose-color or gold. --Hawthorne. [1913 Webster]

Such has been the perplexing ingenuity of commentators that it is difficult to extricate the truth from the web of conjectures. --W. Irving. [1913 Webster]

5. (Carriages) A band of webbing used to regulate the extension of the hood. [1913 Webster]

6. A thin metal sheet, plate, or strip, as of lead. [1913 Webster]

And Christians slain roll up in webs of lead. --Fairfax. [1913 Webster] Specifically: [1913 Webster] (a) The blade of a sword. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

The sword, whereof the web was steel, Pommel rich stone, hilt gold. --Fairfax. [1913 Webster] (b) The blade of a saw. [1913 Webster] (c) The thin, sharp part of a colter. [1913 Webster] (d) The bit of a key. [1913 Webster]

7. (Mach. & Engin.) A plate or thin portion, continuous or perforated, connecting stiffening ribs or flanges, or other parts of an object. Specifically: [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster] (b) A disk or solid construction serving, instead of spokes, for connecting the rim and hub, in some kinds of car wheels, sheaves, etc. [1913 Webster] (c) The arm of a crank between the shaft and the wrist. [1913 Webster] (d) The part of a blackmith's anvil between the face and the foot. [1913 Webster]

8. (Med.) Pterygium; -- called also {webeye}. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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}. [1913 Webster]

{Pin and web} (Med.), two diseases of the eye, caligo and pterygium; -- sometimes wrongly explained as one disease. See {Pin}, n., 8, and {Web}, n., 8. ``He never yet had pinne or webbe, his sight for to decay.'' --Gascoigne.

{Web member} (Engin.), one of the braces in a web system.

{Web press}, a printing press which takes paper from a roll instead of being fed with sheets.

{Web system} (Engin.), the system of braces connecting the flanges of a lattice girder, post, or the like. [1913 Webster]