retiary

English

Etymology

Compare Latin retiarius.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹiːʃɪəɹi/, /ˈɹiːʃəɹi/
• (Us) IPA^(key): /ˈɹiʃiˌɛɹi/, /ˈɹiʃiəɹi/

Adjective

retiary (not comparable)

1. net-like
   • 1658, Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus:

     And, beside this kind of work in retiary and 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.
   • c. 1810-1820, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notes on Jeremy Taylor

     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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)