Obs. exc. dial. Forms: 4 arayne, iran, -ain, -eyn(e, irany, yreyn(e, 5 aranye, aranee, arein, erayne, -ane, -eyne, erany(e; dial. 7 arain, 9 arran, arrand. [a. OF. araigne (aragne, iragne, iraigne), cogn. w. Pr. aranha, eranha:—L. arānea.] A spider.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter xxxvii. 12. And to skulke ais irain þou made saule his.
1388. Wyclif, Isa. lix. 5. Thei han … maden webbis of an yreyn.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. lv. (1495), 896. The hony sholde be corrupte that is in the combes and Araynes sholde be gendrid.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 14. Aranye or erayne, Aranea. Ibid., 140. Eranye or spider.
1460. Capgrave, Chron., 297. A thing withoute soule wers than a tode or a ereyne.
c. 1460. Bk. Quintess., I. 2. By generacioun of flies, and areins.
1674. Ray, N. Countr. Words, 2. An Arain: a Spider … used only for the larger kind of Spiders. Nottinghamshire.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, v. 45. ‘You never heard of Bruce, perhaps?’ ‘And th’ arrand?’
