mamba

[ mahm-bah ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

any of several long, slender, arboreal snakes of the genus Dendroaspis, of central and southern Africa, the bite of which is often fatal.

mamba

/ ˈmæmbə /

any aggressive partly arboreal tropical African venomous elapid snake of the genus Dendroaspis, esp D. angusticeps ( green and black mambas )

Origin of mamba¹

1860–65; < Nguni; compare Zulu imamba, izimamba

Origin of mamba¹

from Zulu im-amba

The black mamba snake slithering towards Lakshmi is highly venomous.

On his loins was a lion of great fierceness, and coiled round his waist was a hissing mamba (snake).

A snake of the mamba species, which grows to a considerable size, very scarce, and with a proportionately bad reputation.

Hardly one hundred years ago, on the site of the modern esplanade, there stood a temple consecrated to Mamba-Devi.

Coiled but a few scant feet away was a long black mamba, the most poisonous snake of Africa.

On hearing it Mamba leaped from the couch on which he had been laid as if nothing were the matter with him.

April 25, 2024firkin

[fur-kin ]

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