serpent

[ sur-puhnt ]
See synonyms for serpent on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a snake.

  2. a wily, treacherous, or malicious person.

  1. the Devil; Satan. Genesis 3:1–5.

  2. a firework that burns with a serpentine motion or flame.

  3. an obsolete wooden wind instrument with a serpentine shape and a deep, coarse tone.: Compare ophicleide.

  4. Serpent, Astronomy. the constellation Serpens.

Origin of serpent

1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin serpent-, stem of serpēns “crawling”; see origin at Serpens

Words Nearby serpent

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use serpent in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for serpent

serpent

/ (ˈsɜːpənt) /


noun
  1. a literary or dialect word for snake

  2. Old Testament a manifestation of Satan as a guileful tempter (Genesis 3:1–5)

  1. a sly, deceitful, or unscrupulous person

  2. an obsolete wind instrument resembling a snake in shape, the bass form of the cornett

  3. a firework that moves about with a serpentine motion when ignited

Origin of serpent

1
C14: via Old French from Latin serpēns a creeping thing, from serpere to creep; related to Greek herpein to crawl

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

Cultural definitions for serpent

serpent

The creature in the Book of Genesis that tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, thus committing the first act of the Fall of Man. In the New Testament, the serpent of Genesis is identified with Satan.

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.