Web


From Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition, 1910)

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Web (a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Du. webbe, Dan. vaev, Ger. Gewebe, all from the Teutonic wabh-to weave), that which is woven (see Weaving). The word is thus applied to anything resembling a web of cloth, to the vexillum of the feather of a bird, to the membrane which connects the toes of many aquatic birds and some aquatic mammals; it is particu - larly used of the "cobweb," the net spun by the spider, the Old English name for which was dtor-coppe, i.e. poison-head (dtor, poison, and coppe, tuft or head). In architecture the term "web" is sometimes given, in preference to "panel," to the stone shell of a vault resting on the ribs and taking its winding surface from the same; see Vault.