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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

cobwebby en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree English cobweb Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English cobwebby From cobweb + -y.

Meanings

  1. Having many cobwebs.
    • Off this landing and over the studio was a dark cobwebby place, tangled with wiring, plumbing, ventilation and mystery. 1944, Emily Carr, “Attic Eagles”, in The House of All Sorts:
  2. Resembling a cobweb or cobwebs.
    • […] wonderful images of […] the cobwebby features of Ganymede […] 1980, Carl Sagan, chapter VI, in Cosmos, Random House, published 2002:
  3. (figuratively) Old or dated.
    • As for changing the TV landscape, almost every programme it screened from 8pm until the early hours in the week beginning 11 August was either a repeat of one of its original transmissions or a re-run of cobwebby sitcoms and dramas it has bought from established terrestrial networks. 2014 August 22, Private Eye, number 1373, page 15:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
cobwebbiest Degree=Sup lexicographic
cobwebbier Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Deriveds

cobwebbiness

Synonyms

cobwebbed · hoary · cobwebbed (having many cobwebs) · obsolete · spider-webby (resembling a cobweb) · aged (old)