snake
Americannoun
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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:
Gray previously studied Guam's brown tree snake problem while working for the USGS.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
The discovery may be discouraging for agencies that have spent decades trying to contain Guam's brown tree snake population.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
That’s because when a snake bites and punctures the skin and transfers venom into the victim’s body, the venom attacks the skin, soft tissue and connective tissue beneath it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
He said it was a "beautiful snake, no signs of aggression, no bad moods, no nothing".
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
It was bad enough, she said, to find a snake in the pencil sharpener, but then she almost sharpened it by mistake.
From "The Best School Year Ever" by Barbara Robinson
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
Flooding in Hengzhou city, Guangxi in early July caused hundreds of snakes to escape from a breeding farm.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
A line snakes all the way around the casino floor on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, when veterans and their spouses eat free.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Neatly labeled drawers hold hand fans, plastic snakes, buttons, buckles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The snakes parted as the leader streaked through the water toward Clare.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Vines snaked through broken windows on abandoned buildings, street after street.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Dozens of wires snaked around three electronic boxes, one of them connected to an old-school car battery for supplemental power.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 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
A garden hose snaked from a dripping faucet to a hole in the yard.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
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
Photos and a video Aiello provided show bladed wire snaking around the decomposing animal’s neck and curved horns, as well as the front legs, in a desert landscape dotted with boulders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
Jeers to the snaking Starbucks lines on the Las Vegas Strip when conventions and other big events are in town.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Her hair is a mess, snaking out every which way.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
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.
