East Ind. Also karait, korait. [Hindī karait.] A venomous snake of the genus Bungarus, esp. B. cæruleus, common in Bengal.
1874. Fayrer, Venom. Snakes Ind. Penins. (ed. 2), 14. After a night’s dâk in a palanquin, a lady … found a Krait coiled up under her pillow.
1880. Daily Tel., 18 Nov., 5/3. His charm against ‘the black snake’ and the ‘korait.
1887. Encycl. Brit., XXII. 196/2. The krait is probably, next to the cobra, the most destructive snake to human life in India.
1898. Pall Mall Mag., Christm. No., 583. It [a snake] was a fine specimen of the karait.
