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Cant. iii. In vain he seeks, that having can not hold. Spenser. France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue, . . . A fasting tiger safer by the tooth, Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold. Shak.

A serpent or monster in the lake or marsh of Lerna, in the Peloponnesus, represented as having many heads, one of which, when cut off, was immediately succeeded by two others, unless the wound was cauterized. It was slain by Hercules. Hence, a terrible monster. Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire. Milton.…

Mischievous; harmful; dangerous. [Obs.] "Infestuous as serpents." Bacon.

o occupies or lodges in any place or dwelling. So spake the enemy of mankind, inclos'd In serpent, inmate bad. Milton.

To roll or fold up; to wind round; to entwine. Some of serpent kind . . . involved Their snaky folds. Milton.

A poisonous serpent of Brazil (Bothrops jararaca), about eighteen inches long, and of a dusky, brownish color, variegated with red and black spots.

sometimes as resembling an immense octopus. To believe all that has been said of the sea serpent or kraken, would be credulity; to reject the possibility of their existence, would be presumption. Goldsmith. Like a kraken huge and black. Longfellow.

or arrangement of an intricate or involved form, or having a very complicated nature. The serpent . . . fast sleeping soon he found, In labyrinth of many a round self-rolled. Milton. The labyrinth of the mind. Tennyson.

can at Rome, representing the priest Laocoön, with his sons, infolded in the coils of two serpents, as described by Virgil.

A division of reptiles, including the serpents and lizards; the Plagiotremata.

rd snake (Zoöl.), the garter snake (Eutænia sirtalis). -- Lizard stone (Min.), a kind of serpentine from near Lizard Point, Cornwall, England, -- used for ornamental purposes.

less children! Longfellow. Mitche Manito the mighty, He the dreadful Spirit of Evil, As a serpent was depicted. Longfellow.

y veined or clouded. The name is also given to other rocks of like use and appearance, as serpentine or verd antique marble, and less properly to polished porphyry, granite, etc.

A thin, laminated variety of serpentine, usually of a pale green color.

The Gorgon; or one of the Gorgons whose hair was changed into serpents, after which all who looked upon her were turned into stone.

neral or rock mass when involving a chemical change of the substance, as of chrysolite to serpentine; -- opposed to ordinary metamorphism, as implying simply a recrystallization. -- Met`a*so*mat"ic, a.

extinct, marine reptiles, found in the Cretaceous rocks, especially in America. They were serpentlike in form and in having loosely articulated and dilatable jaws, with large recurved tteth, but they had paddlelike feet. Some of them were over fifty feet long. They are, essentially, fossil sea serpents with paddles. Ca…

A thing of brass; -- the name under which the Israelites worshiped the brazen serpent made by Moses. 2 Kings xviii. 4.

Knotted; tied in a knot, as a serpent.

The order of reptiles which includes the serpents.