carpet snake

American

noun

a large, nonvenomous Australian python, Morelia spilotes variegata, having a variegated pattern on its back, often used to control rats and mice in barns and silos.

carpet snake British

noun

a large nonvenomous Australian snake, Morelia variegata, having a carpetlike pattern on its back

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of carpet snake

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

carpet snake

Born in Iran, Daliri studied sculpture in India before migrating to Australia, and has also created a giant carpet snake, which is a tourist attraction in Burdekin.

From The Guardian ● May 26, 2020

These horrible reptiles are of all sizes, from the large carpet snake of twenty feet, to the little rock viper of scarcely half a dozen inches.

From Australian Search Party by Henry Walter Bates

Yubbah, carpet snake, as a kin has almost disappeared, only a few members remaining to claim Mungahran HAWK.

From The Euahlayi Tribe; a study of aboriginal life in Australia by K. Langloh (Katie Langloh) Parker

One of them thereupon climbed the tree, and soon a carpet snake, 14 feet 6 inches long and 12 inches in girth, was writhing on the ground.

From My Tropic Isle by E. J. (Edmund James) Banfield

I know the swagsmen, and the sundowners too, often kill the carpet snake, and roast and eat it when they have no other sort of fresh meat.

From From Squire to Squatter A Tale of the Old Land and the New by Gordon Stables

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023