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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Spinneret

Spinneret \Spin"ner*et\, n. (Zo["o]l.) One of the special jointed organs situated on the under side, and near the end, of the abdomen of spiders, by means of which they spin their webs. Most spiders have three pairs of spinnerets, but some have only two pairs. The ordinary silk line of the spider is composed of numerous smaller lines jointed after issuing from the spinnerets.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
spinneret

"silk-spinning organ of a silkworm or spider," coined 1826, diminutive of spinner.

Wiktionary
spinneret

n. 1 The organ a spider uses to spin its web. 2 A multipored device through which a plastic polymer melt is extruded into fibers.

Wikipedia
Spinneret (spider)

A spinneret is a silk-spinning organ of a spider or the larva of an insect. Some adult insects also have spinnerets, such as those borne on the forelegs of Embioptera. Spinnerets are usually on the underside of a spider's abdomen, to the rear. While most spiders have six spinnerets, some have two, four, or eight. They move independently and in concert.

Most spinnerets are not simple structures with a single orifice producing a single thread, but highly complex structures of many microscopic spigots, each producing one filament. This is important partly because it produces the necessary orientation of the protein molecules, without which the silk would be weak and useless. It also permits spiders to combine multiple filaments in different ways to produce many kinds of silk for special purposes.

Various species of spiders use silk extruded from spinnerets to build webs, to entrap insects by running round them, to make egg-cases, to catch the wind and fly ( ballooning), etc. Some insect larvae (including silkworms) extrude silk to make a protective cocoon for their metamorphosis. The insects known as web spinners weave silken galleries for protection from predators and the elements while foraging and breeding.

Observations suggesting that there might be silk-producing organs on the feet of the zebra tarantula ( Aphonopelma seemanni) led to questions about the origins of spinnerets. It was hypothesised that spinnerets in spiders were originally used as climbing aids on the feet and evolved and were used for webmaking at a later time. However, these observations have since been challenged, as described in the main article on tarantulas.

bruennichi detail spinneret.JPG|The compact spinnerets of Argiope bruennichi; placed ventrally below the posterior. barn spider encases her prey in silk emanating from her spinneret seen in the foreground. aspect of spinnerets of spider species with unusually long spinnerets.

Spinneret (novel)

Spinneret is a science fiction novel by Timothy Zahn. It was published in 1985.

Spinneret

Spinneret principally refers to the silk spinning organ on a silk worm or insect larvae,

Spinneret may also refer to:

  • Spinneret (spider), silk-spinning organ of a spider
  • Spinneret (polymers), a device used to extrude polymers into fibers (by analogy with a spider)
  • Spinneret (Timothy Zahn)
  • Spinneret (Marvel Comics), a comic-book character related to the High Evolutionary
  • Spinneret, a web server board made by Parallax, Inc. (company)
Spinneret (polymers)

A spinneret is a device used to extrude a polymer solution or polymer melt to form fibers. Streams of viscous polymer exit via the spinneret into air or liquid leading to a phase inversion which allows the polymer to solidify. The individual polymer chains tend to align in the fiber because of viscous flow. This airstream liquid-to-fiber formation process is similar to the production process for cotton candy. The fiber production process is generally referred to as "spinning." Depending on the type of spinneret used, either solid or hollow fibers can be formed. Spinnerets are also used for electrospinning and electrospraying applications. They are sometimes called a coaxial needles, or coaxial emitters.

Usage examples of "spinneret".

Lovingly she embraces the cork ball, fondles it with her palpi, fastens it to her spinnerets and thenceforth drags it after her as though she were dragging her own bag.

Earth scientists, and other relatively innocuous subjects for the next hour, and when Hafner escorted Carmen back to the Spinneret camp and her waiting vehicle, she professed herself satisfied with the break from the pressures of her work.

A safety-cord, emitted at the same instant by the spinnerets, keeps the Epeira hanging, swinging in space.

People with lobster claws instead of hands, legs fused or amputated to make room for stingers or spinnerets, heads that in no way matched the bodies they were attached to.

They are often mistaken for funnel-webs, but they have short spinnerets - the little pointy things at the tip of the abdomen.

With horrible quickness the vast bloated body came down and grasped the corpse, the huge abdomen bending around it so that Paks could see cords of silk from the spinnerets twisting around and around.

For a moment one of the tendrils of silk from her under-claw spinnerets stretched out between fingertip and cloth before snapping off and dropping flat against the cloth.

A short distance from the ground, she released the spinnerets and fell the rest of the way, her tremendous weight easily balanced on her eight strong legs.

Bergold was knitting silk from his spinnerets with a tapping rhythm that was driving Chuck mad.

I know were shapechanged used fangs and spinnerets both, as that one did last night.

She saw the spinnerets facing her, and the pulsations that would drive out the poisoned silk.

As the Rooshrike had retrieved the second Spinneret cable and I had already obtained assurances that they would share their test results with us, it seemed redundant and a little ridiculous to waste time with the few boxfuls of equipment we had available.

He's going to suggest to the Astran scientists that a number of American experts be invited to help us decipher the Spinneret controls, and the only reason he's hidden the Directory is to keep me from counterproposing a more international group.