also mesh-work, "a network, a web, a plexus," 1830, from mesh (n.) + work (n.). Compare network.

"net, snare," 1520s, from French toile "hunting net, cloth, web" (compare toile d'araignée "cobweb"), from Old French toile "cloth" (11c.), from Latin tela "web, net, warp of a fabric," from PIE root *teks- "to weave," also "to fabricate." Now used largely in plural (as in caught in the toils of the law).

"threads which run across the web from side to side," Old English weft, wefta "weft," related to wefan "to weave," from Proto-Germanic *weftaz (see weave (v.)).

"marine web-footed bird," 1580s, from sea + bird (n.1). Middle English had sæfugol "sea-bird, sea-fowl."

1620s, from Latin textilis "a web, canvas, woven fabric, cloth, something woven," noun use of textilis "woven, wrought," from texere "to weave," from PIE root *teks- "to weave," also "to fabricate." As an adjective from 1650s.

directory listing names and headshots, by 1983, originally among U.S. college students, from face (n.) + book (n.). The social networking Web site of that name (with capital F-) dates from 2004.

Old English wefan "to weave, form by interlacing yarn," figuratively "devise, contrive, arrange" (class V strong verb; past tense wæf, past participle wefen), from Proto-Germanic *weban (source also of Old Norse vefa, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Dutch weven, Old High German weban, German weben "to weave"), from PIE root *(h)uebh- "to weave;" also "to move quickly" (source also of Sanskrit ubhnati "he laces together," Persian baftan "to weave," Greek hyphē, hyphos "web," Old English webb "web").

The form of the past tense altered in Middle English from wave to wove. Extended sense of "combine into a whole" is from late 14c.; meaning "go by twisting and turning" is from 1640s. Related: Wove; woven; weaving.

structural element of fungi, 1866, from Modern Latin plural hyphae (1810), from Greek hyphē (singular) "web," probably a back-formation from hyphainō "to weave, warp, devise, produce,"from PIE root *(h)uebh- "to weave" (see weave (v.1)). Related: hyphal.

early 15c., "network, structure," from Latin textura "web, texture, structure," from stem of texere "to weave" (from PIE root *teks- "to weave, to fabricate, to make; make wicker or wattle framework"). Meaning "structural character" is recorded from 1650s. Related: Textural.

"instrument on a weaver's loom to beat up the weft," Middle English sleie, from Old English slæ, slea, slahae "a weaver's reed," from root meaning "strike" (see slay (v.)), so called from "striking" the web to compress it. Hence also the surname Slaymaker "maker of slays."