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
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use snake in a sentence
The fish are plentiful, but there are also venomous snakes, crocodiles, and even man-eating tigers.
On the beach around the pond Cutler was dazzled by an assortment of “shells of different kinds, turtles, frogs, toads, lizards, water snakes, etc.”
When Science Was the Best Show in America - Issue 93: Forerunners | Lee Alan Dugatkin | November 18, 2020 | NautilusThe snake eats by “slowly cutting back and forth until it can put its head in.”
This snake rips open a living toad to feast on its organs | Erin Garcia de Jesus | November 16, 2020 | Science News For StudentsTo find the closest veterinarian that treats snakes or the fastest route to school, you might type the relevant question into Google and then review its list of possible solutions.
Because snake plants, or sansevieria, are so common, Gordon suggests going with a more interesting species of the genus.
Online plant sellers are having a moment. Here’s where to shop. | Lindsey Roberts | November 11, 2020 | Washington Post
The frozen Yukon River, snaking its way to the Bering Sea, was visible from my window on the Cessna.
Visiting the Arctic Circle…Before It’s Irreversibly Changed | Terry Greene Sterling | April 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe line grew quickly and into the hundreds of people, snaking through the narrow hallways and out to Hiawassee Road.
Elegant sheaths bore the marks of copper zippers snaking up the back and around the neckline.
Balenciaga, Dries Van Noten Kick Off Paris Fall 2012 Fashion Week | Robin Givhan | March 1, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTWhich meant we had to get into a long snaking line in order to turn over our unwieldy luggage.
They confirmed the discoveries by snaking listening devices and search cameras through tiny breaches in the concrete.
In a few minutes the stout chain was snaking its way down through the blue-green ocean.
Tom Swift and His Giant Telescope | Victor AppletonThe long, snaking hose filled and plumped out with snappings.
The Skipper and the Skipped | Holman DaySnaking out again, he laid hold of the two bundles and the gun, and dragged them into shelter.
A Maid of the Silver Sea | John OxenhamJim decided to press Coyote and Piute into service for snaking the logs down.
The Frontier Boys in the Grand Canyon | Wyn Roosevelt"We never were better in our lives," cried Tom, deftly catching a rope that came snaking down as the steamer's speed diminished.
The Bungalow Boys Along the Yukon | Dexter J. Forrester
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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