gopher snake
Americannoun
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a bullsnake, Pituophis melanoleucus, of western North America, that invades burrows to prey on rodents.
Etymology
Origin of gopher snake
An Americanism dating back to 1830–40
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.
Dr. Ditmars fed him a six-foot gopher snake, turned a hose on his conqueror.
From Time Magazine Archive
That gopher snake just passed on the trail, with a young rabbit half swallowed, illustrates near enough how one-half of the world is trying to swallow the other.
From A Breeze from the Woods, 2nd Ed. by Bartlett, William Chauncey
The gopher snake was three or four feet long, and lay as straight as a stick across our path.
From A-Birding on a Bronco by Merriam, Florence A.
But are they wise, and retiring, like the house-haunting gopher snake of the South?
From The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals A Book of Personal Observations by Hornaday, William Temple
The gopher snake was harmless; perhaps, if I could get him so close to it that he would see it wriggle away from under his feet, he might be less indifferent to rattlers.
From A-Birding on a Bronco by Merriam, Florence A.
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.
