water moccasin

noun

the cottonmouth.
any of various similar but harmless snakes, as a water snake of the genus Nerodia.

water moccasin

a large dark grey venomous snake, Agkistrodon piscivorus, of swamps in the southern US: family Crotalidae (pit vipers) Also calledcottonmouth

An Americanism dating back to 1815–25

"But I thought you said it was a water moccasin," I objected.

The water-moccasin is about two feet in length, and has a circumference of five or six inches.

The Water Moccasin is dull olive with wide black transverse bands.

This upland moccasin is named in science Ancistrodon contortrix; its brother species, the water moccasin, is A. piscivorus.

Circumstantial evidence indicated that it was killed by the bite of a water moccasin.

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