attercop

/ˈætəkɒp/

Etymology

From Middle English attercoppe, from Old English ātorcoppe (“spider”), corresponding to atter (“poison, venom”) + cop (“spider”). The latter is still to be found in the English word cobweb. Cognate to Danish edderkop (“spider”) and Norwegian edderkopp (“spider”).

Why this word is great

ATTERCOP — [Noun] A spider, or a peevish or ill-natured person. From Middle English attercoppe, from Old English ātorcoppe ("spider"), corresponding to atter ("poison, venom") + cop ("spider"). Unlike "arachnid" (a clinical term, sterile as a specimen jar) or "grump" (a mild modern gripe), "attercop" is a venomous whisper, a word that spins its own web of disdain. It is the fat-bodied house spider lurking in the shadow of a ceiling corner, the spiteful mutter of a neighbor who scowls at children’s laughter, or the hairy-legged horror scuttling across a medieval bedchamber. Some poisons linger longest in the syllables, and some words, like certain creatures, leave a sticky residue of unease.

noun

A spider.“Myself, not bound by James’ view / Nor Walter’s, in a vision saw these two / Like trapped and weakening flies / In toils of the same hoary net; / I seemed to hear ancestral cries / Buzzing ‘To our All-Wise, Omnivorous / Attercop glowering over us, / Whose table we have set / With blood and bones and sweat.’”
A peevish or ill-natured person.