reptile
[rep-til, -tahyl]
- any cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia, comprising the turtles, snakes, lizards, crocodilians, amphisbaenians, tuatara, and various extinct members including the dinosaurs.
- (loosely) any of various animals that crawl or creep.
- a groveling, mean, or despicable person.
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- of or resembling a reptile; creeping or crawling.
- groveling, mean, or despicable.
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Origin of reptile
1350–1400; Middle English reptil < Late Latin rēptile, noun use of neuter of rēptilis creeping, equivalent to Latin rēpt(us) (past participle of rēpere to creep) + -ilis -ile
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for reptiles
Contemporary Examples
And some reptiles add a fourth function to the overworked cloacal repository–that of respiration as well.
And second, the allegers proved themselves over time to be as unappealing a litter of reptiles and crones as could be imagined.
Fobb says he loves the Everglades—loves snakes, too—and that man is doing far more damage to the area than the reptiles.
When the hiss of reptiles turns to words, you hear something that you have never heard and will never forget.
Historical Examples
In birds, the same bones are the phylogenetic derivatives of the limbs of reptiles.
The Sexual QuestionAugust Forel
As they are so dangerous, these reptiles should always be destroyed as much as possible in all pastures and grazing grounds.
For the purpose of mounting, fishes and reptiles must be fresh, and the fresher the better.
TaxidermyLeon Luther Pray
Man would have to have some reptiles—not to eat, but to develop himself from.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, CompleteAlbert Bigelow Paine
The Crocodiles and Alligators belong to that order of reptiles known as Crocodilia.
PathfinderAlan Douglas
reptile
- any of the cold-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Reptilia, characterized by lungs, an outer covering of horny scales or plates, and young produced in amniotic eggs. The class today includes the tortoises, turtles, snakes, lizards, and crocodiles; in Mesozoic times it was the dominant group, containing the dinosaurs and related forms
- a grovelling insignificant personyou miserable little reptile!
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- creeping, crawling, or squirming
- grovelling or insignificant; mean; contemptible
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Word Origin
C14: from Late Latin reptilis creeping, from Latin rēpere to crawl
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for reptiles
reptile
n.
late 14c., "creeping or crawling animal," from Old French reptile (early 14c.) and directly from Late Latin reptile, noun use of neuter of reptilis (adj.) "creping, crawling," from rept-, past participle stem of repere "to crawl, creep," from PIE root *rep- "to creep, crawl" (cf. Lithuanian replioju "to creep"). Used of persons of low character from 1749.
Precise scientific use began to develop mid-18c., but the word was used as well at first of animals now known as amphibians, including toads, frogs, salamanders; separation of Reptilia (1835 as a distinct class) and Amphibia took place early 19c.; popular use lagged, and reptile still was used late 18c. with sense "An animal that creeps upon many feet" [Johnson, who calls the scorpion a reptile], sometimes excluding serpents.
And the terrestrial animals may be divided into quadrupeds or beasts, reptiles, which have many feet, and serpents, which have no feet at all. [Locke, "Elements of Natural Philosophy," 1689]
An inadvertent step may crush the snail
That crawls at ev'ning in the public path ;
But he that has humanity, forewarn'd,
Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.
[Cowper, "The Task," 1785]
The Old English word for "reptile" was slincend, related to slink.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
reptile
[rĕp′tīl′]
- Any of various cold-blooded vertebrates of the class Reptilia, having skin covered with scales or horny plates, breathing air with lungs, and usually having a three-chambered heart. Unlike amphibians, whose eggs are fertilized outside the female body, reptiles reproduce by eggs that are fertilized inside the female. Though once varied, widespread, and numerous, reptilian lineages, including the pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and dinosaurs, have mostly become extinct (though birds are living descendants of dinosaurs). The earliest reptiles were the cotylosaurs (or stem reptiles) of the late Mississippian or early Pennsylvanian Period, from which mammals evolved. Modern reptiles include crocodiles, snakes, turtles, and lizards.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
reptiles
A class of scaly vertebrates that usually reproduce by laying eggs. Lizards, snakes, turtles, and alligators are reptiles. Reptiles are cold-blooded animals.
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Note
The dinosaurs were reptiles.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.