TARANTULA (tarantulae)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: tarantulae   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tarantula mean? 

• TARANTULA (noun)
  The noun TARANTULA has 2 senses:

1. large southern European spider once thought to be the cause of tarantism (uncontrollable bodily movement)

2. large hairy tropical spider with fangs that can inflict painful but not highly venomous bites

  Familiarity information: TARANTULA used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TARANTULA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Large southern European spider once thought to be the cause of tarantism (uncontrollable bodily movement)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

European wolf spider; Lycosa tarentula; tarantula

Hypernyms ("tarantula" is a kind of...):

hunting spider; wolf spider (ground spider that hunts its prey instead of using a web)

Holonyms ("tarantula" is a member of...):

genus Lycosa; Lycosa (type genus of the family Lycosidae)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Large hairy tropical spider with fangs that can inflict painful but not highly venomous bites

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("tarantula" is a kind of...):

spider (predatory arachnid with eight legs, two poison fangs, two feelers, and usually two silk-spinning organs at the back end of the body; they spin silk to make cocoons for eggs or traps for prey)

Holonyms ("tarantula" is a member of...):

family Theraphosidae; Theraphosidae (large tropical spiders; tarantulas)

 Context examples 

These animals include jaguars, Spix's macaws, harpy eagles, vinaceous-breasted amazons, crowned solitary eagles, hawksbill turtles, green turtles, tarantulas, Amazon false coral snakes, Brazilian green racer snakes, cream-colored woodpeckers, blue spiny starfish, sharks, seahorses, piaba fish, sawfish, bluefin tuna, brown howler monkeys.

(Over 300 animal species threatened in Bahia, Agência Brasil)