Lexic.us

Definition of Attercop

1. n. A spider.

Definition of Attercop

1. Noun. ''(obsolete except in dialects)'' A spider. ¹

2. Noun. ''(obsolete except in dialects)'' A peevish or ill-natured person. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Attercop

1. a spider [n -S] - See also: spider

Lexicographical Neighbors of Attercop

Literary usage of Attercop

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter William Skeat (1893)
"(E.) Either (T) from W. cob, a spider, and E. web ; or (2) a shortened form of attercop-web, ... The ME attercop is from AS ..."

2. The Archaeological Album ; Or, Museum of National Antiquities by Thomas Wright, Frederick William Fairholdt (1845)
"Among the former our older writers mention not unfrequently the attercop, or spider, ... The Saxon Herbal furnishes us with the figure of an attercop, ..."

3. A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1889)
"11, says a spider was called an attercop in some parts of that country, and even in Fingal. Pegge explains it, "the venomous spider," which agrees with the ..."

4. Faiths and Folklore: A Dictionary of National Beliefs, Superstitions and by William Carew Hazlitt (1905)
"Such was the attercop, a poisonous spider, perhaps a sort of tarantula, concerning which is an anecdote of the fourteenth century, connected with Shrewsbury ..."

5. A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter William Skeat (1893)
"(C. and E.) From W. cob, a "pider ; or short for ME attercop-web, cobble (2), a small round ... Dimin. of W. cob, a tuft (above). here attercop, a spider, ..."

6. A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1847)
"attercop. A spider. (A.-S.) It is translated by a,-aum in the Prompt. Parv. p. ... 11, says a spider was called an attercop in some parts of that country, ..."

7. A Glossary of North Country Words, with Their Etymology, and Affinity to by John Trotter Brockett, William Edward Brockett (1846)
"It may be added, in Northumberland and Durham also. Edder-cap, when applied to a female of a violent temper, has the same signification as attercop. ..."

Other Resources: