# Is there a difference between a cobweb and a spiderweb? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 16, 2000, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083 "2000-10-16T03:43:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IBBen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85f322/32.png) [@IBBen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IBBen)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/1 "2000-10-16T03:43:26Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![kbutcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/db5fbb/32.png) [@kbutcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbutcher)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/2 "2000-10-16T03:47:13Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Bilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@Bilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilder)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/3 "2000-10-16T03:58:23Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/4 "2000-10-16T04:12:45Z")
Cobwebs are made by certain types of spiders (IIRC, the black widow is one of those types :eek: ), 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. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/5 "2000-10-16T04:14:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gunslinger \* > **…night a rebuild in the morning…** a = and (that’ll teach me to not preview) ---
**Author:** ![falcon2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dbc845/32.png) [@falcon2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/falcon2)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/6 "2000-10-16T04:28:44Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![falcon2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dbc845/32.png) [@falcon2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/falcon2)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/7 "2000-10-16T04:32:17Z")
Doh! _Reading the initial post_ Yes, I distinctly rememberer reading just that. i.e. NOT SPIDERS. I regretably do not rememeber the source. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/8 "2000-10-16T04:51:15Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/9 "2000-10-16T05:06:37Z")
> [@](#): > > 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, \*_bouv_ 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. ---
**Author:** ![Tabithina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@Tabithina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabithina)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/10 "2000-10-16T14:21:58Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/11 "2000-10-16T14:34:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/12 "2000-10-16T15:23:38Z")
don’t be silly…everybody knows that spiderwebs are left by _SPIDERS_, whereas cobwebs are left by _COBS_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![IBBen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85f322/32.png) [@IBBen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IBBen)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2000, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/13 "2000-10-17T00:03:17Z")
lemme guess, dust bunnies are made by… ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2000, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/14 "2000-10-17T01:41:03Z")
> [@](#): > > whereas cobwebs are left by _COBS_. _Ty_ Cobbs? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2000, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/15 "2000-10-17T01:47:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*lemme guess, dust bunnies are made by… \*\* dust. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2000, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-a-cobweb-and-a-spiderweb/37083/16 "2000-10-17T01:48:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kat \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > whereas cobwebs are left by _COBS_. > > _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.