To "spider"

Hello,

I have been reading an esl blog (Aug. 22) by Torsten, and I’ve found this expression. It’s new to me, and I’m interested in it. :slight_smile:

What does the word “spider” mean in this sentence? I can catch a vague meaning of the sentence, but I don’t understand it clearly. This is my first time I saw “spider” was used as a verb. Is it a metaphorical expression? Or is it a common expression?

Thanks,

Kumi

Hi Kumi,

Many thanks for your interesting question. You right, using the word ‘spider’ as a verb is a novelty. It describes the process that search engines such as Google carry out permanently: Their servers ‘crawl’ the web for new web pages or new contents on ‘old’ web pages to collect and index all this information. This automated procedure is called ‘spidering’.

Please, let me know if that answers your question. Regards. Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, question-response: What is your new manager like?[YSaerTTEW443543]

Hi Torsten,

Many thanks for your reply! :wink:

Thanks for the explanation about the word “to spider” - Now I understand its meaning and idea…!! The mystery was solved with your help. Thanks again.

It’s really interesting to me…
These words which are commonly used on the Internet are all related to “spiders”…!!

  • net / web / thread / …spider…!!

:smiley:

Hi Kumi,

You are right, new technologies and forms of communication create new words as well. That is, these words are created by people, of course. In many cases we simply use existing words in a new context and give them a new meaning. Take the word «blog» - it’s the short form of «weblog».

On sailships the log used to be the record of the rate of a ship’s speed or of her daily progress. In logbook the full nautical record of a ship’s cruise or voyage used to be recorded.

If you now search Google for the term «blog» you might be surprised at the huge number of web pages that come up. Just try it out.

Also, I wanted to ask you whether you use any English words in Japanese?[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, question-response: Did you remember to call Ms. Epstein?[YSaerTTEW443543]

Hi!
Thanks for clarifying the word “spider” and I was curious about how many websites are created daily? I find out that 571 websites are created every minute throughout the world.
The internet helps us to communicate with people all around the world,explore others countries and of course helps us to learn new languages.