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cottonmouth

American  
[kot-n-mauth] / ˈkɒt nˌmaʊθ /

noun

  • cottonmouths
    plural
  1. a venomous snake, Agkistrodon (Ancistrodon ) piscivorus, of swamps in southeastern U.S., that grows to about 4 feet (1.2 meters).


cottonmouth British  
/ ˈkɒtənˌmaʊθ /

noun

  1. another name for the water moccasin

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected 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.

See Examples For:

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

Clare yipped as another cottonmouth came in for a closer look and took a blow that sent it flying.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

Today Pyle's group has more than 176,000 members eagerly exchanging information about the region's venomous rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths and coral snakes, as well as its nonvenomous rat snakes and water snakes, among other harmless species.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 18, 2022

They can even handle the bite from venomous snakes such as cottonmouths, timber rattlesnakes and copperheads.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 24, 2022

If cottonmouths swam through our lakes and rivers, what else might be hiding there?

From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2020

Rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, coral snakes—bites from all will be painful at least, deadly at most.

From Golf Digest ● May 3, 2018

Deadly cottonmouths aside, he doubted he could swim all the way across the pond in his exhaustion.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

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