any cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia, comprising the turtles, snakes, lizards, crocodilians, amphisbaenians, tuatara, and various extinct members including the dinosaurs.
2.
(loosely) any of various animals that crawl or creep.
3.
a groveling, mean, or despicable person.
–adjective
4.
of or resembling a reptile; creeping or crawling.
5.
groveling, mean, or despicable.
Origin: 1350–1400; ME reptil < LL rēptile, n. use of neut. of rēptilis creeping, equiv. to L rēpt(us) (ptp. of rēpere to creep) + -ilis-ile
reptile (rěp'tīl') Pronunciation Key
Any of various cold-blooded vertebrates of the class Reptilia, having skin covered with scales or horny plates, breathing air with lungs, and usually having a three-chambered heart. Unlike amphibians, whose eggs are fertilized outside the female body, reptiles reproduce by eggs that are fertilized inside the female. Though once varied, widespread, and numerous, reptilian lineages, including the pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and dinosaurs, have mostly become extinct (though birds are living descendants of dinosaurs). The earliest reptiles were the cotylosaurs (or stem reptiles) of the late Mississippian or early Pennsylvanian Period, from which mammals evolved. Modern reptiles include crocodiles, snakes, turtles, and lizards.
[rep-til, -tahyl] 
