milk snake

American  

noun

1. any of numerous, usually brightly marked king snakes of the subspecies Lampropeltis triangulum (doliata ), of North America.

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milk snake British  

noun

1. a nonvenomous brown-and-grey North American colubrid snake Lampropeltis doliata, related to the king snakes

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Etymology

Origin of milk snake

An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800; so called because they were said to suck milk from cows

Compare meaning

How does milk-snake compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• king snake vs. milk snake

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

milk snake

So it handed over the Honduran milk snake to Slade’s care.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2023

It took some sleuthing, but they determined it was not a species prohibited in Oregon or Washington, and they further narrowed its identity to a Honduran milk snake.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2023

For this type of mimicry to work, it is essential that eating the milk snake has unpleasant but not fatal consequences.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

For this type of mimicry to work, it is essential that eating the milk snake has unpleasant, but not fatal, consequences.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Near them a milk snake had stowed himself away in a crevice, and in the little earthquake which we set up got badly crushed.

From Under the Maples by Burroughs, John