Also bomma, aboma. The native name in Congo, W. Africa, of ‘a huge non-poisonous snake swallowing deer, etc.’ (see Merolla, Vocab.; Proyart; Cavazzi Congo, Matamba, & Angola; Magyar Süd-Afrika). Apparently carried by the Portuguese from Congo to Brazil (Roquete has bom bôma ‘serpent d’Angola et du Brésil), and there applied to the largest boas, in which sense it appears in some English works. (The history has been traced for us by Dr. E. B. Tylor.)
1864. in Webster and in other recent Dicts.
