cottonmouth
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cottonmouth
1825–35, cotton + mouth, so called from the whiteness of its lips and mouth
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.
Fortune said he’d seen plenty of cottonmouth snakes and rattlesnakes in Texas, and he’d once come across a 5-foot bullsnake.
From Washington Post • Jan. 3, 2023
He spends a lot of time helping panicked newcomers, who tend to think every snake they come across is a cottonmouth that they need to kill.
From Scientific American • Sep. 18, 2022
And the previous homeowners had found venomous snakes on the property, including a cottonmouth coiled by the pool.
From Scientific American • Sep. 18, 2022
This federally owned land, essentially a scrubby marsh with partially waterlogged woodland, home to bears and cottonmouth snakes, spans around 250,000 acres.
From The Guardian • Mar. 7, 2019
“I never heard of a cottonmouth with sparkles on its tail.”
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
