snake

[ sneyk ]
See synonyms for: snakesnakedsnakingsnakelike on Thesaurus.com

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.

  1. Building Trades.

    • 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.

    • 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),snaked, snak·ing.
  1. to move, twist, or wind: The road snakes among the mountains.

verb (used with object),snaked, snak·ing.
  1. to wind or make (one's course, way, etc.) in the manner of a snake: to snake one's way through a crowd.

  2. to drag or haul, especially by a chain or rope, as a log.

Origin of snake

1
before 1000; Middle English (noun); Old English snaca; cognate with Middle Low German snake,Old Norse snākr

Other words from snake

  • snakelike, adjective

Words Nearby snake

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use snake in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for snake

snake

/ (sneɪk) /


noun
  1. any reptile of the suborder Ophidia (or Serpentes), typically having a scaly cylindrical limbless body, fused eyelids, and a jaw modified for swallowing large prey: includes venomous forms such as cobras and rattlesnakes, large nonvenomous constrictors (boas and pythons), and small harmless types such as the grass snake: Related adjectives: colubrine, ophidian

  2. Also called: snake in the grass a deceitful or treacherous person

  1. anything resembling a snake in appearance or action

  2. (in the European Union) a former system of managing a group of currencies by allowing the exchange rate of each of them only to fluctuate within narrow limits

  3. a tool in the form of a long flexible wire for unblocking drains

verb
  1. (intr) to glide or move like a snake

  2. (tr) US to haul (a heavy object, esp a log) by fastening a rope around one end of it

  1. (tr) US (often foll by out) to pull jerkily

  2. (tr) to move in or follow (a sinuous course)

Origin of snake

1
Old English snaca; related to Old Norse snākr snake, Old High German snahhan to crawl, Norwegian snōk snail

Derived forms of snake

  • snakelike, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012