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A suborder of serpents including those which have tubular erectile fangs, as the viper and rattlesnake. See Fang.

Presenting a pleasing appearance; pleasing in form or look; showy. Some [serpents] specious and beautiful to the eye. Bp. Richardson. The rest, far greater part, Will deem in outward rites and specious forms Religion satisfied. Milton.

anything, of a different substance or color from that of the thing itself. An huge great serpent, all with speckles pied. Spebser.

Of a spiral form; wreathed; curled; serpentine. Hid in the spiry volumes of the snake. Dryden.

The slough, or cast skin, of a serpent or other animal. [Obs.] Bacon. Spoil bank, a bank formed by the earth taken from an excavation, as of a canal. -- The spoils system, the theory or practice of regarding public and their emoluments as so much plunder to be distributed among their active partisans by those who are…

a sting ray is a modified dorsal fin ray. The term is sometimes applied to the fang of a serpent. See Illust. of Scorpion.

d, if not in degree; fellow-feeling. They saw, but other sight instead -- a crowd Of ugly serpents! Horror on them fell, And horrid sympathy. Milton.

ico, Yucatan, etc. And Aztec priests upon their teocallis Beat the wild war-drums made of serpent's skin. Longfellow.

iting, the land or ground, in distinction from trees, water, or the like; as, terrestrial serpents. The terrestrial parts of the globe. Woodward.

not expressing thankfulness; unthankful; ungrateful. That she may feel How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child! Shak.

he act of touching, or the state of being touched; contact. Their touch affrights me as a serpent's sting. Shak.

longing to the genera Capromys and Plagiodon. They are allied to the porcupines. -- Tree serpent (Zoöl.), a tree snake. -- Tree shrike (Zoöl.), a bush shrike. -- Tree snake (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of snakes of the genus Dendrophis. They live chiefly among the branches of trees, and are not venomous. --…

To contort; to writhe; to complicate; to crook spirally; to convolve. Twist it into a serpentine form. Pope.

A serpent, or serpent's head and neck, represented on the front of the headdresses of divinities and sovereigns as an emblem of supreme power.

One of the plates on the under side of the tail of a serpent.

poison; particularly, the poisonous, the poisonous matter which certain animals, such as serpents, scorpions, bees, etc., secrete in a state of health, and communicate by thing or stinging. Or hurtful worm with cankered venom bites. Milton.

Full of venom; noxious to animal life; poisonous; as, the bite of a serpent may be venomous.

A mottled-green serpentine marble.

for use; as, vessels of wrath or mercy. He is a chosen vessel unto me. Acts ix. 15. [The serpent] fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom To enter. Milton.

A division of serpents which includes the true vipers of the Old World and the rattlesnakes and moccasin snakes of America; -- called also Viperina.