snake definition | Dictionary.com

snake

[sneyk]

noun, verb, snaked, snak⋅ing.

–noun

1.	any of numerous limbless, scaly, elongate reptiles of the suborder Serpentes, comprising venomous and nonvenomous species inhabiting tropical and temperate areas.

2.	a treacherous person; an insidious enemy. Compare snake in the grass.

Building Trades.

a.	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.

b.	Also called wirepuller. a length of resilient steel wire, for threading through an electrical conduit so that wire can be pulled through after it.

–verb (used without object)

4.	to move, twist, or wind: The road snakes among the mountains.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to wind or make (one's course, way, etc.) in the manner of a snake: to snake one's way through a crowd.

6.	to drag or haul, esp. by a chain or rope, as a log.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME (n.); OE snaca; c. MLG snake, ON snākr

Related forms:

snakelike, adjective

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Snake River

–noun

a river flowing from NW Wyoming through S Idaho into the Columbia River in SE Washington: Shoshone Falls. 1038 mi. (1670 km) long.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To snake

Hy·dra (hī'drə)

Greek Mythology The many-headed monster that was slain by Hercules.
A constellation in the equatorial region of the southern sky near Cancer, Libra, and Centaurus. Also called Snake².
A persistent or multifaceted problem that cannot be eradicated by a single effort.

[Middle English Idra, from Latin Hydra, from Greek Hudrā, Hydra, a water serpent; see wed-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

Sho·sho·ne also Sho·sho·ni (shō-shō'nē)

n. pl. Shoshone or Sho·sho·nes also Shoshoni or Sho·sho·nis

A Native American people comprising three divisions, specifically:
1. A group inhabiting parts of Idaho, northern Utah, eastern Oregon, and western Montana, now mostly in southeast Idaho. Also called Northern Shoshone, Snake¹.
2. A group inhabiting the Great Basin area of Idaho, Utah, and Nevada south to Death Valley, California, now mostly in Nevada. Also called Western Shoshone.
3. A group inhabiting the Wind River valley of western Wyoming. Also called Eastern Shoshone, Wind River Shoshone.
A member of this people or any of its divisions.
Any of the languages of the Shoshone people.

[Probably from an Eastern Shoshone band name.]
Sho·sho'ne·an adj.

snake (snāk)

Any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes or Ophidia (order Squamata), having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions.
A treacherous person. Also called snake in the grass.
A long, highly flexible metal wire or coil used for cleaning drains. Also called plumber's snake.
Economics A fixing of the value of currencies to each other within defined parameters, which when graphed visually shows these currencies remaining parallel in value to each other as a unit despite fluctuations with other currencies.

v. snaked, snak·ing, snakes

v. tr.

To drag or pull lengthwise, especially to drag with a rope or chain.
To pull with quick jerks.
To move in a sinuous or gliding manner: tried to snake the rope along the ledge.

v. intr.
To move with a sinuous motion: The river snakes through the valley.

[Middle English, from Old English snaca.]

Snake¹ (snāk)

n. pl. Snake or Snakes
See Shoshone.

Snake² (snāk)

n. See Hydra.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Snake

Snake\, n. [AS. snaca; akin to LG. snake, schnake, Icel. sn[=a]kr, sn?kr, Dan. snog, Sw. snok; of uncertain origin.] (Zo["o]l.) Any species of the order Ophidia; an ophidian; a serpent, whether harmless or venomous. See Ophidia, and Serpent.

Note: Snakes are abundant in all warm countries, and much the larger number are harmless to man.

Blind snake, Garter snake, Green snake, King snake, Milk snake, Rock snake, Water snake, etc. See under Blind, Garter, etc.

Fetich snake (Zo["o]l.), a large African snake (Python Seb[ae]) used by the natives as a fetich.

Ringed snake (Zo["o]l.), a common European columbrine snake (Tropidonotus natrix).

Snake eater. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The markhoor. (b) The secretary bird.

Snake fence, a worm fence (which see). [U.S.]

Snake fly (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of neuropterous insects of the genus Rhaphidia; -- so called because of their large head and elongated neck and prothorax.

Snake gourd (Bot.), a cucurbitaceous plant (Trichosanthes anguina) having the fruit shorter and less snakelike than that of the serpent cucumber.

Snake killer. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The secretary bird. (b) The chaparral cock.

Snake moss (Bot.), the common club moss (Lycopodium clavatum). See Lycopodium.

Snake nut (Bot.), the fruit of a sapindaceous tree (Ophiocaryon paradoxum) of Guiana, the embryo of which resembles a snake coiled up.

Tree snake (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of colubrine snakes which habitually live in trees, especially those of the genus Dendrophis and allied genera.

Snake

Snake\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Snaked; p. pr. & vb. n. Snaking.]

1. To drag or draw, as a snake from a hole; -- often with out. [Colloq. U.S.] --Bartlett.

2. (Naut.) To wind round spirally, as a large rope with a smaller, or with cord, the small rope lying in the spaces between the strands of the large one; to worm.

Snake

Snake\, v. i. To crawl like a snake.

Language Translation for : snake

Spanish: serpiente,

German: die Schlange,

Japanese: へび

More Translations »

snake (n.)

O.E. snaca, from P.Gmc. *snakon (cf. O.N. snakr "snake," Swed. snok, Ger. Schnake "ring snake"), from PIE base *snag-, *sneg- "to crawl, creeping thing" (cf. O.Ir. snaighim "to creep," Lith. snake "snail," O.H.G. snahhan "to creep"). In Mod.Eng., gradually replacing serpent in popular use. Meaning "treacherous person" first recorded 1590 (cf. O.C.S. gadu "reptile," gadinu "foul, hateful"). Snake eyes in crap-shooting sense is from 1929. Snake oil is from 1927. Snake-bitten "unlucky" is sports slang from 1957. The game of Snakes and Ladders is attested from 1907. Snake pit is from 1883, as a supposed primitive test of truth or courage; fig. sense is from 1941. Phrase snake in the grass is from Virgil's Latet anguis in herba [Ecl. III.93] Another O.E. word for "snake" was næddre (see adder).

snake (v.)

1653, "to twist or wind (something) into the form of a snake," from snake (n.). The intrans. sense of "to move like a snake" is attested from 1848; that of "to wind or twist like a snake" (of roads, etc.) is from 1875.

Main Entry: snake
Pronunciation: 'snAk
Function: noun
: any of numerous limbless scaled reptiles (suborder Serpentes syn. Ophidia) with a long tapering bodyand with salivary glands often modified to produce venom which is injected through grooved or tubular fangs

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