retiary

English

Etymology

Compare Latin retiarius.

Adjective

retiary (not comparable)

  1. net-like
    • Sir Thomas Browne
      This work is in retiary, or hanging textures.
  2. Constructing or using a web, or net, to catch prey; said of certain spiders.
  3. Armed with a net; hence, skilful at entangling.
    • Samuel Taylor Coleridge
      scholastic retiary versatility of logic

Noun

retiary (plural retiaries)

  1. (zoology) Any spider that spins webs to catch its prey.
  2. (historical) A retiarius: a gladiator who fought with a net.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for retiary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

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