Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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| a celestial body with a mass of gas that is hot enough to produce and sustain nuclear fusion, thus producing luminosity |
| one fourth of the moon's monthly revolution |
| serpent (ˈsɜːpənt) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a literary or dialect word for snake |
| 2. | Old Testament a manifestation of Satan as a guileful tempter (Genesis 3:1--5) |
| 3. | a sly, deceitful, or unscrupulous person |
| 4. | an obsolete wind instrument resembling a snake in shape, the bass form of the cornett |
| 5. | a firework that moves about with a serpentine motion when ignited |
| [C14: via Old French from Latin serpēns a creeping thing, from serpere to creep; related to Greek herpein to crawl] | |
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serpent
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serpent definition
The creature in the Book of Genesis that tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, thus committing the first act of the Fall of Man. In the New Testament, the serpent of Genesis is identified with Satan.
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Serpent definition
(Heb. nahash; Gr. ophis), frequently noticed in Scripture. More than forty species are found in Syria and Arabia. The poisonous character of the serpent is alluded to in Jacob's blessing on Dan (Gen. 49:17; see Prov. 30:18, 19; James 3:7; Jer. 8:17). (See ADDER.) This word is used symbolically of a deadly, subtle, malicious enemy (Luke 10:19). The serpent is first mentioned in connection with the history of the temptation and fall of our first parents (Gen. 3). It has been well remarked regarding this temptation: "A real serpent was the agent of the temptation, as is plain from what is said of the natural characteristic of the serpent in the first verse of the chapter (3:1), and from the curse pronounced upon the animal itself. But that Satan was the actual tempter, and that he used the serpent merely as his instrument, is evident (1) from the nature of the transaction; for although the serpent may be the most subtle of all the beasts of the field, yet he has not the high intellectual faculties which the tempter here displayed. (2.) In the New Testament it is both directly asserted and in various forms assumed that Satan seduced our first parents into sin (John 8:44; Rom. 16:20; 2 Cor. 11:3, 14; Rev. 12:9; 20:2)." Hodge's System. Theol., ii. 127.
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