snake
Americannoun
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snakes
plural
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any of numerous limbless, scaly, elongate reptiles of the suborder Serpentes, comprising venomous and nonvenomous species inhabiting tropical and temperate areas.
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a treacherous person; an insidious enemy.
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Building Trades.
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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.
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Also called wirepuller. a length of resilient steel wire, for threading through an electrical conduit so that wire can be pulled through after it.
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verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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to wind or make (one's course, way, etc.) in the manner of a snake.
to snake one's way through a crowd.
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to drag or haul, especially by a chain or rope, as a log.
noun
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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
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Also called: snake in the grass. a deceitful or treacherous person
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anything resembling a snake in appearance or action
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(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
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a tool in the form of a long flexible wire for unblocking drains
verb
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(intr) to glide or move like a snake
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(tr) to haul (a heavy object, esp a log) by fastening a rope around one end of it
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(tr) (often foll by out) to pull jerkily
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(tr) to move in or follow (a sinuous course)
Usage
What else does snake mean? Snake can be slang for a person who acts in a deceitful, underhanded, or backstabbing way.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of snake
before 1000; Middle English (noun); Old English snaca; cognate with Middle Low German snake, Old Norse snākr
Explanation
A snake is a long reptile without legs that moves by undulating, arching the bones in its back and pushing against the ground. A pet snake is easy to care for, unless you're squeamish about feeding it mice. Like other reptiles, snakes are covered in smooth scales. Unlike most, snakes have flexible jaws that allow them to eat things much wider than their own narrow bodies — if you see a big lump in the middle of a garter snake's body, you can be pretty sure it's just eaten a mouse. Because so many people are afraid of snakes (the vast majority of which are not poisonous), the word has also come to mean "treacherous or deceitful person." Snake is a verb as well, meaning "move like a snake."
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.
See Examples For:
A snake named after the Hollywood star Jodie Foster has made a full recovery after receiving cancer treatment normally used in humans.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
They and the other dinosaurs — a T. rex, an armored ankylosaurus, a sight-gag-worthy giant snake — adapt to the 20th century as comfortably as coyotes, skulking through backyards in search of prey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Weary of venomous snake bites, British authorities put a bounty on dead cobras — but this only incentivized locals to breed more of the snakes, in order to collect even more reward money.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Rather than progressing toward one standard body form or sensory system, separate snake lineages developed adaptations suited to different ecological settings.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
On the side of the truck facing us was a picture of a huge gorilla fighting with a big snake.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
In February this year, customs officials seized 31 exotic animals from a passenger arriving from Bangkok, including tortoises, iguanas and snakes.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Weary of venomous snake bites, British authorities put a bounty on dead cobras — but this only incentivized locals to breed more of the snakes, in order to collect even more reward money.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Of the 1.3 million schoolchildren evacuated from cities to the countryside, Mr. Scott writes, many “resorted to eating grasshoppers, snakes, and stream crabs as well as tooth-cleaning powder, paint, and crayons.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
He follows a carnivore diet, picks up snakes with his bare hands, and pushes videos of himself doing pushups shirtless and in jeans.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026
Now Carmen felt like a thousand snakes were wrapping themselves around her, trying to pull her down.
From "I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919" by Lauren Tarshis
Vines snaked through broken windows on abandoned buildings, street after street.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Cars honking their horns snaked through the capital of the small South American country that does not usually get a lot of attention for anything.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Turner snaked through the gauntlet, as his teammates playfully slapped and shoved him around.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
Eager concert-goers arrived as early as 06:30 to reserve the best spots, taking selfies and sharing stories under a sea of umbrellas as queues snaked around the stadium.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
Ella couldn't stop trying to peek at everything as they snaked through the hallways.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
When her foster mom is preparing dinner, Lu sneakily samples from her siblings’ meals, snaking her tongue into each bowl.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
My trips to and from London and Paris, Lisbon and Rome to test the system over a peak-summer week were free of snaking lines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
For days now, a long line has been snaking around the two blocks leading up to the Durian Ninja fruit stall in Tampines, a busy township in the east of Singapore.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
Twentysomethings clad in Deftones and Pikachu tees, Dodgers caps, and beaded bracelets joined the procession, snaking from the dance floor through the bar area and back down again.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
At the top hovered an embankment of rolling, snaking fog so dense it was like stepping into another world.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
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.
