spidery

adj

Etymology: From spider + -y.

1. Like a spider.

   ““En passant,” if nothing else, would have revealed to Joe, in this imitation of a better trick, the hand of Eugene. […] “Sometimes,” said Eskew, “I think that ’Gene Bantry is jest a leetle bit spiderier than he is lazy.[…]””

   “High up on the viaduct, and approached by a spidery staircase from the street, it looks down on Southwark Cathedral.”

2. Characterized by many spindly extensions.

   “The spidery construction looked like it would fall apart in a stiff breeze.”

   “This shelf is deeply cut into by rivers, so that the line has to cross a series of spidery lattice-girder bridges.”

3. Suggestive of cobwebs; spiderweb-like.
4. Infested with or containing many spiders.
5. Cramped or illegible; especially when spiky.

   “'I cannot make head or tail of it,' confessed Miss Barrowford, as the senseful fingers crossed and recrossed the scrawl, now following a vague spidery line, now drawn where no visible mark appeared to lead. 'Is there any meaning, do you think?'”