fer-de-lance
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of fer-de-lance
1875–80; < French: literally, spearhead
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.
Only when they reviewed the images did the Grammatico twins realise they had captured a mosquito resting on the head of a fer-de-lance viper.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Unless it is a fer-de-lance, or bothrops asper, a nasty pit viper found in Central and South America.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 10, 2019
Plentiful, horrifying details are supplied, occasionally to comic effect: “Hey, guys,” moans Mumy, conveying Preston’s dismay as his flashlight illuminates a six-foot, head-swaying fer-de-lance, “there’s a giant snake here.”
From Washington Post ● Mar. 22, 2017
One of the deadliest snakes in Mexico, a tawny fer-de-lance, was slithering by his head, 30 centimeters away.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 23, 2016
Meanwhile the doctor bade his attendant put on the table a big jararaca, or fer-de-lance, which was accordingly done.
From Through the Brazilian Wilderness by Theodore Roosevelt
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.
