cerastes

American  

[suh-ras-teez] / səˈræs tiz /

noun

plural

cerastes

1. any of several small vipers of the genus Cerastes, including the horned viper, that have a sideways looping motion like that of a sidewinder and inhabit deserts of northern Africa and southwestern Asia.

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cerastes British  

/ səˈræstiːz /

noun

1. any venomous snake of the genus Cerastes, esp the horned viper

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Etymology

Origin of cerastes

1768; < New Latin < Greek kerástēs literally, something horned, equivalent to kerat- stem of kéras horn + -tēs noun suffix; earlier in sense “asp,” Middle English < Medieval Latin, Latin, as above

Example Sentences

The rattlesnake Crotalus cerastes is venomous to humans.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 21, 2022

He is called the cerastes, and is venomous, I believe, though not one of the worst kinds of poisonous snakes.

From Hair-Breadth Escapes The Adventures of Three Boys in South Africa by Adams, H.C.

A dangerous serpent this; one never sees him, or hears him speak, or observes the dark glitter of his eye, without being reminded of a cerastes lythely rustling through the dry grass towards its victim.

From St. Winifred's, or The World of School by Earnshaw, H. C. (Harold C.)

Judge his anguish then, and my disappointment, when, seven days before her twenty-first birthday, she was bitten by a cerastes, and her body died.

From Weapons of Mystery by Hocking, Joseph

The hieroglyphs following seem to be zigzag, line, semicircle, zigzag, hoe, mouth, mouth, cerastes, semicircle, two arms united, line, eye, zigzag, cerastes.

From Cleopatra's Needle A History of the London Obelisk, with an Exposition of the Hieroglyphics by King, James