Is there a difference between a cobweb and a spiderweb?

[IBBen]

Seems I once heard a cobweb is not created by a spider but by dust particles and static. It occurs to me that dust bunnies are the same phenomenon. I checked the definition of both words and they are both described as the byproduct of spiders.

Is cobweb the wrong word to describe this static string or are spiders sneaking around in my apartment?

[kbutcher]

Are spiders sneaking around your apartment? I read in the back of a Popular Science Magazine once that you are never more than 4 feet away from a spider. Or was it 2?

In any case I'd say the answer to that question is yes, spiders are sneaking around all over your apartment.

[Bilder]

My dictionary says a cobweb is "the web spun by a spider to catch its prey".

Dust does add to the effect if they last long enough, but there isn't a separate word.

In Old English, a spider was an attorcoppe, shortened to coppe (and coppeweb) in Middle English.

[Gunslinger]

Cobwebs are made by certain types of spiders (IIRC, the black widow is one of those types ), whereas "normal" webs are made by orb weavers. Orb weavers take their webs down at night a rebuild in the morning; cobweb spiders keep the same web as long as possible, so it collects dust and gets tattered over time.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Gunslinger
...night a rebuild in the morning...

a = and (that'll teach me to not preview)

[falcon2]

Of course this is an unverifiable anecdote, but I do remember reading that cobwebs aren't caused by spiders, but are more dust bunnies in high places, and are mostly formed by (gack) sloughed off skin.

[falcon2]

Doh!
*Reading the initial post*
Yes, I distinctly rememberer reading just that. i.e. NOT SPIDERS. I regretably do not rememeber the source.

[bouv]

I had heard (probably wrongly)that cobwebs are spiderwebs that afre abandoned, i.e. the spider who built it has died or left for some reason, hence why they have much dust and whatnot (and yes, dust is moslty dead skin cells (yuck.))
Spiderwebs still have spiders attached to them. Which is evil. All spiders should die a horrible painful death, they are useless.

[tomndebb]

Spiderwebs still have spiders attached to them. Which is evil. All spiders should die a horrible painful death, they are useless.

I'd bet that the average spider is more "useful" than you are. I generally refrain from giving people grief for their phobias (which they cannot control), but since this is the Straight Dope, the war against ignorance prevents me from ignoring the particular expression of your silly fears.

Spiders suppress any number of nasty insects. Judged on "usefulness," spiders rate pretty highly.

As to the OP, [b]bouv[/i] is basically correct that current American usage is that a cobweb is a spiderweb that has been around long enough to gather a fair amount of dust. There are probably a number of varieties of spiders that weave webs that hang around long enough to collect dust, but there is no single species responsible for cobwebs.

[Tabithina]

It is my understanding that certain types of spiders weave "messy" webs. Poisonous brown recluse spiders weave this type of web in secluded places around the house.
The best way to minimize the presence of this type of spider is to wipe out the crawling insects that they prey upon.
Orb weavers don't bother me. Flies DO bother me. I have to think twice about removing the web of a beneficial critter that can kill insects that carry germs. I leave the orb-weaving spiders and their webs alone, unless they are in a painfully obvious location, or my mother-in-law is coming to stay for a week.

Most spiders are "good guys", and you certainly do have them in your apartment. Just be careful when you are going through books, garments or junk that's been sitting around a while. Pick things up CAREFULLY if you see lots of messy, randomly woven webs nearby. IIRC, brown recluse are usually not agressive and will only bite when disturbed.

[Podkayne]

Through inattention to dirty dishes and a failure to take out the kitchen garbage, we have been infested by fruitflies. If you've had these irritating little red-eyed servants of Beelzebub in your house, you know that even after you've cleaned up every plausible food source, they persist, taking refuge in cabinets and around decorative canisters and whatnot.

Luckily, our household spiders have come out in force, spinning webs in every nook and cranny, sucking the nasty lifeblood out of any fruitfly stupid enough to blunder into a web.

This is a delightful illustration of the predator-prey models we did in calculus class. More prey=>more predators. When the prey are all finally gobbled up, the spider population will go in to a downswing, aided by the fact that they are preadtory on one another as well as upon insects.

My opinion is that spiders are good, even if they are little cannibals, because the rid the world of the Greater Evil known as fruitflies.

[Joe_Cool]

don't be silly...everybody knows that spiderwebs are left by SPIDERS, whereas cobwebs are left by COBS.

[IBBen]

lemme guess, dust bunnies are made by....

[Kat]

whereas cobwebs are left by COBS.

Ty Cobbs?

[scr4]

lemme guess, dust bunnies are made by....

dust.

[racinchikki]

Originally posted by Kat

Ty Cobbs?

I've never had Ty Cobbs in my apartment. Derek Jeter once, but I had the exterminator in to get rid of him.