serpent

American  

[sur-puhnt] / ˈsɜr pənt /

noun

serpents plural

1. a snake.

2. a wily, treacherous, or malicious person.

3. the Devil; Satan. Genesis 3:1–5.

4. a firework that burns with a serpentine motion or flame.

5. an obsolete wooden wind instrument with a serpentine shape and a deep, coarse tone.

6. Astronomy. Serpent, the constellation Serpens.

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serpent British  

/ ˈsɜːpənt /

noun

1. a literary or dialect word for snake

2. Old Testament a manifestation of Satan as a guileful tempter (Genesis 3:1–5)

3. a sly, deceitful, or unscrupulous person

4. an obsolete wind instrument resembling a snake in shape, the bass form of the cornett

5. a firework that moves about with a serpentine motion when ignited

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serpent Cultural  

1. The creature in the Book of Genesis that tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, thus committing the first act of the Fall of Man. In the New Testament, the serpent of Genesis is identified with Satan.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• serpents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of serpent

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin serpent-, stem of serpēns “crawling”; see origin at Serpens

Explanation

A serpent is a snake. If you keep a serpent as a pet, you may have to get used to feeding it live mice. While you're probably more likely to use the word snake for this slithery reptile, serpent tends to be the word that shows up in folk tales and mythology. Serpents have represented qualities ranging from evil to fertility to poison throughout history, and even today the symbol of medicine is a staff entwined by a serpent. The Latin root is serpentem, "creeping thing," from serpere, "to creep."

Example Sentences

MIDGARD’S SERPENT, a serpent begot by Loke with the giantess Angerbode. 

From The Death of Balder by Borrow, George Henry

SERPENT, the, signifies the love of self-intelligence, 353.

From The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love by Swedenborg, Emanuel

I will live a thousand sets of the four seasons— THE SERPENT.

From Back to Methuselah by Shaw, Bernard

One of the most famous of these was THE SERPENT, the peculiar Symbol also of this Degree.

From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Pike, Albert

It would be nice to be new again; but my old skin would lie on the ground looking just like me; and Adam would see it shrivel up and— THE SERPENT.

From Back to Methuselah by Shaw, Bernard

Related Words

• snake
• viper