snake
any of numerous limbless, scaly, elongate reptiles of the suborder Serpentes, comprising venomous and nonvenomous species inhabiting tropical and temperate areas.
a treacherous person; an insidious enemy.: Compare snake in the grass.
Building Trades.
Also called auger, plumber's snake. (in plumbing) a device for dislodging obstructions in curved pipes, having a head fed into the pipe at the end of a flexible metal band.
Also called wirepuller. a length of resilient steel wire, for threading through an electrical conduit so that wire can be pulled through after it.
to move, twist, or wind: The road snakes among the mountains.
to wind or make (one's course, way, etc.) in the manner of a snake: to snake one's way through a crowd.
to drag or haul, especially by a chain or rope, as a log.
Origin of snake
1Other words from snake
- snakelike, adjective
Words Nearby snake
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use snake in a sentence
The snake also suffered from kidney damage, possibly a result of water deprivation near the end of its life.
X-rays reveal what ancient animal mummies keep under wraps | Helen Thompson | August 20, 2020 | Science NewsLizard and snake genomes are usually around 2 gigabases, she says.
How tuatara live so long and can withstand cool weather | Jake Buehler | August 5, 2020 | Science NewsPhysicists already knew that tree snakes flatten their bodies as they leap.
Flying snakes wriggle their way through the air | Emily Conover | August 4, 2020 | Science News For StudentsOver 300 years ago, microscopy pioneer Antonie van Leeuwenhoek described sperm tails swaying in a symmetric pattern, like “that of a snake or an eel.”
That’s just like venom glands of snakes, but it’s a first for amphibians, the researchers report July 3 in iScience.
Bizarre caecilians may be the only amphibians with venomous bites | Christie Wilcox | July 3, 2020 | Science News
For these Arabs, Iran is the raised (and loaded) head of the snake.
The Nuclear Deal That Iran’s Regime Fears Most | Djavad Khadem | November 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe black mamba snake slithering towards Lakshmi is highly venomous.
‘Gods of Suburbia’: Dina Goldstein’s Arresting Photo Series on Religion vs. Consumerism | Dina Goldstein | November 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHere the snake oil quotient is a bit more evident than in the skybox seats occupied by insights made using hard science.
All These AIDS ‘Cures’ Are a Fantasy—One That Can Cause Real Harm | Kent Sepkowitz | November 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhich of these foods have science to back them up, and which are nothing but snake oil?
Fish Oil, Turmeric, and Ginseng, Oh My! Are ‘Brain Foods’ B.S.? | Dr. Anand Veeravagu, MD | October 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe snake was particularly kissed and touched as worshippers entered.
Fighting Back With Faith: Inside the Yezidis’ Iraqi Temple | Michael Luongo | August 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe heard Mohammedans alluding to a Brahmin as a leader—so might a wolf and a snake make common alliance against a watch dog.
The Red Year | Louis TracyOn his loins was a lion of great fierceness, and coiled round his waist was a hissing mamba (snake).
Uncanny Tales | VariousSo they bore Spotted snake away with them in the canoe, while the Dogtown gang shrieked farewells from the old landing.
The Campfire Girls of Roselawn | Margaret PenroseDorothy again caught the furtive glance of the woman's evil eyes, and recoiled from it as if she had trodden upon a snake.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieA few hundreds in a few hungry pockets, and we run a snake through the legislature declaring that lake state property.
Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton
British Dictionary definitions for snake
/ (sneɪk) /
any reptile of the suborder Ophidia (or Serpentes), typically having a scaly cylindrical limbless body, fused eyelids, and a jaw modified for swallowing large prey: includes venomous forms such as cobras and rattlesnakes, large nonvenomous constrictors (boas and pythons), and small harmless types such as the grass snake: Related adjectives: colubrine, ophidian
Also called: snake in the grass a deceitful or treacherous person
anything resembling a snake in appearance or action
(in the European Union) a former system of managing a group of currencies by allowing the exchange rate of each of them only to fluctuate within narrow limits
a tool in the form of a long flexible wire for unblocking drains
(intr) to glide or move like a snake
(tr) US to haul (a heavy object, esp a log) by fastening a rope around one end of it
(tr) US (often foll by out) to pull jerkily
(tr) to move in or follow (a sinuous course)
Origin of snake
1Derived forms of snake
- snakelike, adjective
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
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