What is "tarantula"

Tarantula \Ta*ran"tu*la\, n.; pl. E. Tarantulas, L. Tarantul[ae]. [NL., fr. It. tarantola, fr. L. Tarentum, now Taranto, in the south of Italy.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of large spiders, popularly supposed to be very venomous, especially the European species ( Tarantula apuli[ae]). The tarantulas of Texas and adjacent countries are large species of Mygale. [Written also tarentula.]

Tarantula killer, a very large wasp ( Pompilus formosus), which captures the Texan tarantula ( Mygale Hentzii) and places it in its nest as food for its young, after paralyzing it by a sting.

1560s, "wolf spider," (Lycos tarantula), from Medieval Latin tarantula, from Italian tarantola, from Taranto "Taranto," seaport city in southern Italy in the region where the spiders are frequently found, from Latin Tarentum, from Greek Taras (genitive Tarantos; perhaps from Illyrian darandos "oak"). Its bite is only slightly poisonous. Popularly applied to other great hairy spiders, especially the genus Mygale, native to the warmer regions of the Americas (first so called in 1794).

n. 1 A species of wolf spider, (taxlink Lycosa tarentula species noshow=1). 2 A "true tarantula", consisting of large, hairy spiders comprising the family ''(taxlink Theraphosidae family noshow=1). 3 A member of several other groups of spiders, generally characterized by large size, hairiness, or close relation to family Theraphosidae.

1. n. large southern European spider once thought to be the cause of tarantism (uncontrollable bodily movement) [syn: European wolf spider, Lycosa tarentula]

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

3. [also: tarantulae (pl)]

The Tarantula is the name of two fictional comic book characters owned by DC Comics that exist in that company's DC Universe.

Tarantula, in comics, may refer to:

• Tarantula (DC Comics) is the name of 2 characters from DC Comics
• Tarantula (Marvel Comics) is the name of 5 characters from Marvel Comics, two of whom are villains that fought Spider-Man
• Tarantula is the name of a character from Atlas/Seaboard Comics
• Tarantulas (Transformers), a Predacon in the Beast Wars series that has appeared in the comic books based on the toy

It may also refer to:

• Black Tarantula, a Marvel Comics character

Tarantula is an experimental prose poetry collection by Bob Dylan, written in 1965 and 1966. It employs stream of consciousness writing, somewhat in the style of Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg. One section of the book parodies the Lead Belly song " Black Betty". Reviews of the book liken it to his self-penned liner notes to two of his albums recorded around the same time, Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited.

Dylan would later cite Tarantula as a book he had never fully signed up to write: "Things were running wild at that point. It never was my intention to write a book." He went on to equate the book to John Lennon's nonsensical work In His Own Write, and implied that his former manager Albert Grossman signed up Dylan to write the novel without the singer's full consent.

Although it was to be edited by Dylan and published in 1966, his motorcycle accident in July '66 prevented this. The first 50 copies were printed on A4 paper by the Albion underground press of San Francisco in mid-1965. The type-written pages were bound in yellow paper with a large red tick-like arachnid pictured on the front. Numerous bootleg versions of the book were available on the black market through 1971, when it was officially published to critical scorn. In 2003 Spin magazine did an article called the "Top Five Unintelligible Sentences from Books Written by Rock Stars." Dylan came in first place with this line from Tarantula: "Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." In the early 21st century, Tarantula was re-released in English and translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian and Czech.

Tarantula is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in publications from Marvel Comics. He acts as a patriotic enforcer for the oppressive dictatorship of the fictional South American country of Delvadia, essentially a Delvadian equivalent to Captain America. Visually, his defining marks are his red stretch costume with a black tarantula on its chest and the poisonous stingers attached to his boots. The character was killed off in the early 1980s, but the Tarantula identity has been carried on by a series of successors.

Tarantulas are a group of hairy and often very large spiders belonging to the family Theraphosidae.

Tarantula may also refer to:

Tarantula is a 1955 American science fiction film from Universal-International, produced by William Alland, directed by Jack Arnold, and starring John Agar, Mara Corday, and Leo G. Carroll. The screenplay by Robert M. Fresco and Martin Berkeley was based on a story by Arnold which was in turn inspired by Fresco's teleplay for the 1955 Science Fiction Theatre episode, "No Food for Thought", which Arnold also directed.

"Tarantula" is a song by Faithless, released as a single in 2001 as the third single release from their album Outrospective. The album's previous single had been " Muhammad Ali". It was released as simply "Tarantula" in some countries and the double a-side " Crazy English Summer" / "Tarantula" in others. Tarantula was written by the three members of Faithless. "Crazy English Summer"'s backing track was written by Sister Bliss and Rollo Armstrong and Zoë Johnston wrote and performed the vocals.

In December 2001 the single reached #29 in UK Singles Chart and #53 in Netherlands. In January 2002 peaked #18 in Finland, #49 in Belgium, and #89 in Switzerland.

A sample from "Tarantula" was featured as the theme to the BBC's coverage of the 2002 Fifa World Cup.

Tarantula is the fifth studio album by New Orleans-based rapper Mystikal, released on December 18, 2001 by Jive Records. The production was done by Rockwilder, Scott Storch, The Medicine Men and The Neptunes, and features artists like Juvenile, Butch Cassidy and Method Man & Redman.

The album received a positive reception from critics who found it an improvement over his previous album Let's Get Ready. It spawned two singles: " Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall)" and the title track. Tarantula debuted at number 33 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 153,000 copies, peaking at number 25 in 2002 and reaching number 4 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart that same year. It was later certified gold by the RIAA for selling over 500,000 copies. In 2003, Tarantula received two nominations at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album and Best Male Rap Solo Performance for "Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall)".

Tarantula is the second studio album released on October 12, 2004, by Flickerstick via Idol Records.

"Tarantula" is a song by The Smashing Pumpkins. It is the first single from their seventh album, Zeitgeist, and their first release since their 2006 revival.

Tarantula is the fourth studio album by British rock band Ride, released in March 1996 shortly after the band split. The album was deleted from Creation Records' catalogue only one week after its release.

Tarantula is a Portuguese power metal band established in 1981 and ranked as one of the very first power metal bands, that has played concerts in Portugal and Germany. Members of the band are Jorge Marques (vocals), Paulo Barros (guitar), José Aguiar (bass) and Luís Barros (drums).

Tarantula is the sixth studio-album by Spanish popstar Mónica Naranjo. It was released on 22 April 2008 in Spain after the release of the debut-single "Europa", which reached #1 on the Spanish Singles Chart for 6 consecutive weeks.

This album is Naranjo's first album in seven years due to personal reasons, despite that her label, Sony-BMG, released in 2005 "", a greatest hits collection from her eleven years in the music industry.

The album was produced by Union of Knives' Chris Gordon and Dave McClean, and it was recorded between London, Glasgow, New York and Barcelona, between 2005 until 2008.

The album was released two days later in Latin America, and it's expecting to be released in Europe, as previous albums got a release there. The album was released in the United States on November 24, 2008.

Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy arachnids belonging to the Theraphosidae family of spiders, of which approximately 900 species have been identified. This article only describes members of Theraphosidae, although some other members of the same suborder are commonly referred to as "tarantulas". Most species of tarantulas are not dangerous to humans, and some species have become popular in the exotic pet trade.

"Tarantula" is the second single released from Mystikal's fifth album of the same name, it featured singer, Butch Cassidy. It was released on February 19, 2002 and was produced Scott Storch. Tarantula ended Mystikal's streak of three successful singles (" Shake Ya Ass", " Danger (Been So Long)" and " Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall)"), only making it to #76 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.

Mygale is a thriller crime novel by Thierry Jonquet first published in France by Editions Gallimard in 1984, and then published in the US in 2003 by City Lights. It was also published in English translation in the UK and North America as Tarantula in 2005 by Serpent's Tail, and it has also been released under the title The Skin I Live In, the title of Pedro Almodóvar's film adaptation of the novel. Some editions have a spider, or spider's web, on the cover.