tarantula
nounAny of various large hairy spiders chiefly of the family Theraphosidae, capable of inflicting a bite that is painful but usually not dangerous to humans.
nounA large wolf spider (Lycosa tarentula) of southern Europe, once thought to cause tarantism.
nounA large wolf-spider of southern Europe, Lycosa tarantula or Tarantula apuliæ, whose bite was fabled to cause tarantism; hence, any similar spider of the family Lycosidæ (which see), the species of which are numerous. See also cuts in next column.
nounAny one of the great hairy spiders of the warmer parts of America; a bird-spider or crabspider; any species of Mygale, or of some allied genus. See cuts under
[capitalized] [NL.] An old genus of spiders, formerly reputed to be poisonous, belonging to the family Lycosidæ, and now usually merged in the genus Lycosa. It rested on such species as T. apuliæ of southern Europe, now known as Lycosa tarantula. See def. 1.
noun[capitalized] [NL.] A genus of spider-like scorpions.
nounAny one of several species of large spiders, popularly supposed to be very venomous, especially the European species (
a very large wasp (
A species of
A “true tarantula”, consisting of