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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



172 words match “SNAKE”

OPHIOPHAGUS n.
A genus of venomous East Indian snakes, which feed on other snakes. Ophiophagus elaps is said to be the largest and most deadly of poisonous snakes.
PANTHERINE a.
Like a panther, esp. in color; as, the pantherine snake (Ptyas mucosus) of Brazil.
PILOT n.
to protect the thread and guide the pin when it is driven into a hole. Waddell. -- Pilot snake (Zoöl.) (a) A large North American snake (Coluber obsoleus). It is lustrous black, with white edges to some of the scales. Called also mountain black snake. (b) The pine snake. -- Pilot whale. (Zoöl.) Same as Blackfish, 1.…
PINE n.
tine, obtained from fir and pine trees, and used in making varnishes and colors. -- Pine snake (Zoöl.), a large harmless North American snake (Pituophis melanoleucus). It is whitish, covered with brown blotches having black margins. Called also bull snake. The Western pine snake (P. Sayi) is chestnut-brown, mottled wi…
PIT n.
ace of the latter is often in a pit, whence the name. -- Pit viper (Zoöl.), any viperine snake having a deep pit on each side of the snout. The rattlesnake and copperhead are examples. -- Working pit (Min.), a shaft in which the ore is hoisted and the workmen carried; -- in distinction from a shaft used for the pumps…
PLANTAIN n.
merican aquatic plant (Heteranthera reniformis), having broad, reniform leaves. -- Rattlesnake plantain, an orchidaceous plant (Goodyera pubescens), with the leaves blotched and spotted with white. -- Ribwort plantain. See Ribwort. -- Robin's plantain, the Erigeron bellidifolium, a common daisylike plant of North Am…
POLISHING n.
ing glass, marble, and metals. (b) A kind of hone or whetstone; hone slate. -- Polishing snake, a tool used in cleaning lithographic stones. -- Polishing wheel, a wheel or disk coated with, or composed of, abrading material, for polishing a surface.
POLYGALA n.
enus of bitter herbs or shrubs having eight stamens and a two-celled ovary (as the Seneca snakeroot, the flowering wintergreen, etc.); milkwort.
PRAIRIE n.
pigeon, plover, or snipe (Zoöl.), the upland plover. See Plover, n., 2. -- Prairie rattlesnake (Zoöl.), the massasauga. -- Prairie snake (Zoöl.), a large harmless American snake (Masticophis flavigularis). It is pale yellow, tinged with brown above. -- Prairie squirrel (Zoöl.), any American ground squirrel of the ge…
PROTEROGLYPHA n.
ith ordinary teeth behind them in the jaws. It includes the cobras, the asps, and the sea snakes. Called also Proteroglyphia.
PUFF n.
adder (C. cornuta) has a plumelike appendage over each eye. (b) A North American harmless snake (Heterodon platyrrhinos) which has the power of puffing up its body. Called also hog-nose snake, flathead, spreading adder, and blowing adder. Puff bird (Zoöl.), any bird of the genus Bucco, or family Bucconidæ. They are sma…
PYTHON n.
Any species of very large snakes of the genus Python, and allied genera, of the family Pythonidæ. They are nearly allied to the boas. Called also rock snake.
QUAKING n.
maxima is the large quaking grass; B. media and B. minor are the smaller kinds. (b) Rattlesnake grass (Glyceria Canadensis).
RACER n.
The common American black snake.
REFRESH v.
To make as if new; to repair; to restore. The rest refresh the scaly snakes that folDryden. To refresh the memory, to quicken or strengthen it, as by a reference, review, memorandum, or suggestion.
REPTILE n.
An animal that crawls, or moves on its belly, as snakes,, or by means of small, short legs, as lizards, and the like. An inadvertent step may crush the snail That crawls at evening in the public path; But he that has humanity, forewarned, Will tread aside, and let the reptile live. Cowper.
RESTINESS n.
The quality or state of being resty; sluggishness. [Obs.] The snake by restiness and lying still all winter. Holland.
RHACHIODONT a.
iar modification of the inferior spines of some of the vertebræ, as certain South African snakes (Dasypelits) which swallow birds' eggs and use these gular teeth to crush them.
RING n.
a dark ring around the neck, as the semipalmated plover (Ægialitis semipalmata). -- Ring snake (Zoöl.), a small harmless American snake (Diadophis punctatus) having a white ring around the neck. The back is ash- colored, or sage green, the belly of an orange red. -- Ring stopper. (Naut.) See under Stopper. -- Ring t…
RINGED a.
oöl.), a North Pacific seal (Phoca foetida) having ringlike spots on the body. -- Ringed snake (Zoöl.), a harmless European snake (Tropidonotus natrix) common in England. -- Ringed worm (Zoöl.), an annelid.
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