[təˈrantʃələ], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a very large hairy spider found chiefly in tropical and subtropical America, some kinds of which are able to catch small lizards, frogs, and birds

- a large black wolf spider of southern Europe, whose bite was formerly believed to cause tarantism


Phrases:

Origin:
mid 16th century: from medieval Latin, from Old Italian tarantola ‘tarantula’, from the name of the seaport Taranto. Compare with tarantella and tarantism