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:
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
He does know how to make money selling snake oil.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
The brown tree snake has become one of the world's best-known examples of an invasive species.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
Imogene said he stayed home to bury the snake, and she had this messy scribbled-up note that said, “Leroy is absent at a funeral.”
From "The Best School Year Ever" by Barbara Robinson
If you allow people to earn cash from dead snakes, you risk getting a lot more living snakes in the process.
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
Flooding in Hengzhou city, Guangxi in early July caused hundreds of snakes to escape from a breeding farm.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
After all, if she’d keep this enemy close, by George’s logic, she’d start to appreciate all that snakes do in her garden.
From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers
Local reporters estimated the queue was around 600 metres in length, and snaked around several streets.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 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
At John F. Kennedy International Airport this week, security lines for both the standard and PreCheck screening snaked several rows back.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
Silhouetted by lantern light, he stretched, and a long shadow snaked out to cloak the watching fox.
From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker
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
As he approached the peak of Everest in May 2019, he snapped a photo of a snaking queue of climbers all waiting to reach the summit.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 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
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’s particularly bloodthirsty tonight, snaking all around the room, swarming the furniture, vining up the legs of chairs, stretching over the walls.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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.
