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rat snake

American  

noun

  1. any of several New and Old World colubrid snakes, of the genus Elaphe, that feed chiefly on small mammals and birds.


rat snake British  

noun

  1. any of various nonvenomous rodent-eating colubrid snakes, such as Elaphe obsoleta of North America and Ptyas mucosus of Asia

"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

Etymology

Origin of rat snake

First recorded in 1855–60

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Example Sentences

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A TikTok of “The Traitors” and “Love Island” cast member Rob Rausch handling a rat snake.

From The Wall Street Journal Mar. 5, 2026

Had she not joined it four years earlier, the final encounter of that snakeful day, with a rat snake wrapped around her door handle, would probably have ended poorly for the snake.

From Scientific American Sep. 18, 2022

A cart attendant at a Walmart in Texas got quite the scare on Friday after discovering a large rat snake in a group of shopping carts.

From Fox News May 27, 2019

Don’t be surprised if after reading “Squirm,” your young reader tells you the safest way to handle a yellow rat snake or scare off a grizzly.

From New York Times Nov. 9, 2018

Papa had been talking about that place ever since George had brought the two-foot rat snake to school to show Mr. Landers—because they were studying reptiles!

From "I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912" by Lauren Tarshis

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