Forms: 1 snaca, 2– snake, 6 snayke, snack. [OE. snaca, = MLG. snake (LG. snake, snaak): cf. ON. snákr (poet.), Sw. snok, Da. snog, which may be from LG.]
I. 1. One or other of the limbless vertebrates constituting the reptilian order Ophidia (characterized by a greatly elongated body, tapering tail, and smooth scaly integument), some species of which are noted for their venomous properties; an ophidian, a serpent. Also, in popular use, applied to some species of Lacerta, and to certain snake-like amphibians.
The various species are freq. distinguished by a prefix denoting color or marking, habitat, or other characteristic feature, as black-, carpet-, coach-whip-, coral-, corn-, diamond-, grass-, hooded, rattle-, ribbon-, ringed, tiger- = whip-snake, etc. (see these words).
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke x. 19. Ic sealde eow anweald to tredenne ofer næddran & snacan.
a. 1023. Wulfstan, Hom. (1883), 192. Sy Dan snaca on weʓe and næddre on pæðe.
1154. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1137. Hi dyden heom in quarterne þar nadres & snakes & pades wæron inne.
a. 1200. Moral Ode, 273. Þeor beð naddren and snaken, eueten and frude.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2805. It warp vt of hise hond, And wurð sone an uglike snake.
13[?]. K. Alis., 5972. For hij libben by addren, and snaken.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xiii. 5. Tricherously þai wroght venome of snakis vndire þe lippes of þa.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 3347. Whos vertu is al venym to distroye,… Of dragoun, serpent, adder & of snake.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, C ij. Ther be in woddys … wormys calde edders … and also ther be snakys of the same kynde.
1559. W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, 173. Edder, Snack, swift, or such like.
1570. Levins, Manip., 198/16. A Snayke, anguis.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vi. 202. Th’ Eft, Snake, and Dipsas (causing deadly Thirst).
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. v. 42. Thou shouldst come like a Furie crown’d with Snakes.
1661. J. Childrey, Brit. Baconica, 73. No Snakes or Adders are to be found about Badminton.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1824), III. 167. That horrible fætor, which even the commonest and the most harmless snakes are still found to diffuse.
1817. Shelley, Rev. Islam, I. xiii. 236. Then … would the Snake Relax his suffocating grasp.
1847. L. Leichhardt, Overland Exped., i. 16. A carpet snake and a brown snake with yellow belly.
1873. Dawson, Earth & Man, ix. 217. A peculiarity, seen in some snakes, namely a joint in the middle of the jaw enabling its sides to expand.
transf. and fig. 1821. Shelley, Adonais, xxii. Swift as a Thought by the snake Memory stung.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, III. 27. At these words the snake, My secret, seem’d to stir within my breast.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul (1883), 753. The Apostle first tramples on the snake of any mere personal annoyance.
1885. Times, 14 Sept., 8/1. There must be snakes of some sort in each earthly Eden.
b. A representation, image or figure of a snake.
1579–80. in Nichols, Progr. Q. Eliz., II. 290. An armering of golde,… being a snake with a mean white saphire on the hedd.
1688. [see sense 5].
1818. R. P. Knight, Symb. Lang. (1876), 15. The winged disk of the sun is placed between two hooded snakes (or asps).
1859. Tennyson, Merlin & V., 737. She hung her head, The snake of gold slid from her hair.
1903. Jane E. Harrison, Study Grk. Relig., vii. 331. That the service is to a hero is further emphasized by the snakes sculptured on the top round the hollow cup which served for libations.
c. In pl. as an exclamation, esp. great snakes!
1891. R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne, in Scribner’s Mag., Sept., 293/1. Why in snakes should anybody want to be a sculptor, if you come to that?
1898. F. T. Bullen, Cruise ‘Cachalot,’ i. 4. Great snakes! why, here’s a sailor man for sure!
2. In figurative or allusive uses:
a. With reference to the ingratitude or treachery displayed by the snake in Æsop’s fable (I. x).
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. i. 343. I feare me, you but warme the starued Snake, Who, cherisht in your breasts, will sting your hearts.
1671. Milton, Samson, 763. Drawn to wear out miserable days, Entangl’d with a poysnous bosom snake.
1688. Sir S. Morland, in Pepys’ Diary & Corr. (1879), VI. 160. To assure me that I was taking a snake into my bosom.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., I. ix. 214. The wild Viking would have crushed the growing snake in his bosom.
b. Used to denote some lurking danger, suspicious circumstance or person, etc.; esp. in the phr. a snake in the grass (after Virgil Ecl. III. 93 Latet anguis in herba).
1611. W. Barksted, Hiren (1876), 109. O could this diuell my soule so transforme That I must eate that snake in him did lurke.
1659. Haslerig, in Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 337. Consider what a snake lies under this fair Declaration.
1677. Yarranton, Eng. Impr., 101. Hold, hold, you drive too fast; there is a snake in the Bush.
1696. [C. Leslie] (title), The Snake in the Grass.
1709. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), II. 173. There is a Snake in the grasse, and the designe is mischievous.
1881. Evans, Leic. Gloss., Sneck-i’-the-gress, a sneak; a traitor; a treacherous deceiver.
† c. To eat (or feed on) snakes, as a means of renewing one’s youth or vigor. Obs.
1603. Dekker, Honest Wh., Wks. 1873, II. 103. I eate Snakes, my Lord, I eate Snakes. My heart shall neuer haue a wrinkle in it.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Elder Brother, IV. iv. (1637), H iij b. That you have eate a snake, And are growne young, gamesome, and rampant.
a. 1640. Massinger, etc. Old Law, V. i. He hath left off o’ late to feed on snakes; His beard’s turn’d white again.
d. To wake snakes (see quot. 1872); to have snakes in one’s boots, to see snakes, to have delirium tremens. U.S. slang.
1872. De Vere, Americanisms, 212. The other meaning … makes waking snakes equivalent to ‘running away quickly.’
1877. J. Habberton, Barton Exper., ix. He’s been pretty high on whisky for two or three days,… and they say he’s got snakes in his boots now.
3. Applied to persons, esp. with contemptuous or opprobrious force; in early use freq. poor snake, a poor, needy or humble person; a drudge.
(a) 1590. Greene, Mourning Garment, Wks. (Grosart), IX. 193. The Gentleman … seeing such a poore snake to hinder his attempt, thought to checke him with a frowne.
1597. Tofte, Laura (1880), p. xliii. Then Cupid worke that I (poore Snake in loue) This sdainfull Snake for to be kinde may moue.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle (1871). 71. A poore snake, whose best of meanes Is but to live on that he dayly gleanes.
1665. Brathwait, Comment Two Tales, 80–1. But these poor Snakes of hers were far from challenging any property in either.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., ix. This Doctor Doboobie had a servant, a poor snake, whom he employed in trimming his furnace,… compounding his drugs [etc.].
(b) 1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., IV. iii. 71. I see Loue hath made thee a tame snake.
1643. Baker, Chron., Hen. III., 112. The Dragon once appeased or destroyed, these lesser Snakes will soon be trodden downe.
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, vii. Don’t provoke me to try, you yellow snake, you!
1897. Gunter, Susan Turnbull, I. xvi. 193. Do you remember a little toadying snake who used to be at school with us—one Susan Trumbull?
4. Applied to various things resembling a snake in some respect.
† a. A long curl or tail attached to a wig. Obs. b. The long flexible tube of a hookah. c. A kind of firework burning with a snake-like movement or having a snaky form. d. In miscellaneous transf. senses.
a. 1676. Dryden, Ep. Etheredge’s Man of Mode, 24. His Sword-knot this, his Crevat this design’d; And this the yard long Snake be twirls behind.
1728. Swift, On Five Ladies at Sot’s Hole, 34, Misc. 1735, V. 456. We who wear our Wigs With Fan-Tail and with Snake.
b. 1865. Reader, No. 123. 508/2. The tube, or ‘snake,’ as it is conventionally called, of a hookah.
1875. in W. Hamilton, Poems Tobacco (1889), 121. Here’s to the hookah with snake of five feet.
c. 1891. Chambers’s Encycl., VIII. 509/1. When the lower portion [of the rocket] is burned, the upper … takes fire and sets off its garniture of stars, snakes, and other ornaments.
d. 1892. Rider Haggard, Nada, xviii. 146. Chaka watched the long black snake of men winding towards him across the plain.
1894. Mrs. Dyan, Man’s Keeping (1899), 40. The floor was strewn with scraps of torn lace, curling snakes of ribbon.
1896. Mrs. F. A. Steel, Face Waters, III. iv. 225. Ran for dear life from the hissing of that snake of fire flashing to the powder magazine.
† 5. Some dicing game. Obs.–0
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. xvi. (Roxb.), 68/1. A snake board vert; there on a snake depicted, with houses, birds and the like fixed on his back all proper…. This is a bord whereon is playd the game of Snake.
6. A kind of man-trap used in Ireland. ? Obs.
1835–. in Eng. Dial. Dict.
1867. Chronicle, 13 July, 38/1. The ‘snakes’ in question are iron barbs, theoretically maintained as a terror to trespassers, but hardly existing in fact.
7. A species of mediæval war-vessel.
Used as a rendering of OE. snacc SNACK sb.1 or ON. snekkja.
1864. Dasent, Jest & Earnest (1873), I. 275. He was left with only twelve snakes or war-galleys.
1880. Dawkins, Early Man, 396. These boats are to be looked upon as the precursors of the long ships, snakes, and sea-dragons.
II. attrib. and Comb. 8. a. Simple attrib., as snake-bite, -broth, family, -poison, -skin, etc.
1839. Penny Cycl., XIII. 161/1. It is also one of their remedies for *snake-bites, but is no doubt inefficacious.
c. 1880. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 323. The population being dense, it is reasonable to expect that great mortality would occur from Snake bites every year.
1894. A. Robertson, Nuggets, etc. 73. She knows as much about snake-bite as any doctor.
1747. trans. Astruc’s Fevers, 81. Viper or *snake-broth is also powerfully deobstruent.
1885. Hornaday, 2 Yrs. in Jungle, xxxii. 388. The Dyak proceeded to roast the serpent,… preparatory to making a *snake curry.
c. 1880. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 301. All the species of the *Snake family … have minute vestiges of hind limbs.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VII. 178. A single meal, with many of the *snake kind, seems to be the adventure of a season.
1883. Science, I. 260–1. It acted like *snake-poison, especially on birds.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 810. Snake-poison is a clear limpid fluid of a pale straw to yellow colour.
1874. (title) Report on the Effects of Artificial Respiration … in Indian and Australian *Snake-Poisoning.
1825. Scott, Talism., xx. A straight broadsword, with a handle of boxwood, and a sheath covered with *snake-skin.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 270. Each man … loosened his knife in its snake-skin sheath.
1888. G. Meredith, Poems (1898), II. 191. The *snake-slough sick of the snaky sin.
1805. Southey, Madoc, II. vi. 192, note. *Snake worship was common in America.
1883. Monier Williams, Relig. Th. India, I. xii. 319. Many … believe that snake-worship was the earliest form of religion prevalent among men.
b. Attrib., with terms denoting persons or things connected with the catching, selling, exhibition, or worship of snakes, as snake-boy, -man, -player; snake-dance, -temple, etc.
1873. Leland, Egypt. Sketch-Bk., 60. I did quite a business with that *snake boy, for I was interested in the study of his ware.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Nov., 12/1. A *Snake Dance of Savages.
1901. Athenæum, 11 May, 599/2. He saw snake-dances and fire ceremonies, of which he preserved an accurate report.
1836. [Miss Maitland], Lett. fr. Madras (1843), 36. Eight cobras and three other snakes…, and the *snake-men singing and playing … to them.
1859. Sir J. G. Wilkinson, in Rawlinson, Herodotus, III. 151, note. The *snake-players of the coast of Barbary.
1889. S. Weir Mitchell, in Century Mag., Aug., 507/2. The *snake-staff is used to handle snakes.
1891. Miss Gordon-Cumming, 2 Yrs. Ceylon (1892), I. v. 127. There was a very ancient *snake-temple … near Jaffna.
c. Appositive, as snake-girdle, -god, -idol, -king, -lock, etc.
1606. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. II. Magnificence, 912. A Mantle … round about him ty’d With a Snake-girdle biting off her tail.
1805. Southey, Madoc, II. vi. 192. A temple … where the Snake-Idol stood. Ibid., II. vii. (heading), The Snake God.
1866. J. Conington, trans. Æneid, VI. 185. Her [Discord’s] snake-locks hiss.
1871. Alabaster, Wheel of Law, 136. If a snake-king he will sink into the earth.
1901. Athenæum, 13 April, 475/2. The influence of the snake-woman, gorgeous in beauty and irresistible in allurement.
d. Used to designate things having the form of a snake, as snake-arrow, -bow, -knot, neck, etc.
1895. A. C. Haddon, Evol. Art, 25. A *snake-arrow which has lost all trace of its saurian ancestry.
c. 1660. Wood, Life (O.H.S.), I. 300. Lac’d bands and tassell or *snake-bow band-strings.
1866. G. Stephens, Runic Mon., I. 327. The intertwining arabesques have everywhere a tendency to the regular *Snake-knot.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., ii. His long *snake neck and cruel visage wreathing about in search of prey.
1625. in Rymer’s Fœdera (1726), XVIII. 239. One Paire of Goulde Cupps with Covers, haveinge blewe *Snake Rings in the Topp of theire Covers.
1891. M. Williams, Later Leaves, v. 63. A gold snake ring.
9. Objective and obj. genitive, as snake-bearer, -catcher, -charmer, -eater, -worshipper, etc.; snake-devouring, -eating adjs.; snake-killing.
1610. Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, 383. Æsculapius was … called … the *Snake-bearer.
1796. T. Twining, Trav. India, etc. (1893), 164. The exhibition of the *snake-catchers near Benares.
c. 1880. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 306. The Cobras are the favourites of the snake-catchers.
1836. [Miss Maitland], Lett. fr. Madras (1843), 36. Those *snake-charmers are most wonderful.
1891. Miss Gordon-Cumming, 2 Yrs. Ceylon (1892), I. v. 129. Professional snake-charmers, who go about with a basket full of these wriggling reptiles for exhibition.
1621. Quarles, Esther, vii. Enuie did ope her *Snake-deuouring Iawes.
1835. J. Duncan, Beetles, 189. If it enjoyed an inferior degree of veneration to the snake-devouring Ibis [etc.].
1771. Phil. Trans., LXI. 56. This bird [the secretary-bird] was called a *snake-eater, by those who brought it from India.
1872. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 393/1. Such a creature as a snake-eater is man’s best friend.
c. 1880. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 307. A *snake-eating Snake.
1887. Mrs. Daly, Digging, etc., S. Australia, ix. 94. The reptile known as the Ophiophagus elaps, or snake-eating cobra.
1895. J. G. Millais, Breath fr. Veldt (1899), 29. As for his *snake-killing exploits, I think he is a bit of a fraud.
1880. G. C. M. Birdwood, Indust. Arts India, 83. The Nagas are a mythical type of the Scythic race of *snake-worshippers.
10. With pa. pples. or (ppl.) adjs., forming parasynthetic, similative, or instrumental combs., as snake-bitten, -bodied, -bred, -drawn, -encircled, -engirdled, -eyed, -haired, -headed, etc.
Freq. in allusion to the snake-like hair of the Furies.
1807. P. Gass, Jrnl., 20. One of our people got *snake bitten but not dangerously.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 47/2. *Snake-bodied Batrachians.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xvii. (1592), 271. This Diuell…, whom he calleth ὀφιογενῆ or ὀφιόνεον, that is to say *Snakebread or Adderbread.
1876. A. S. Murray, Mythol., iii. (1877), 42. [Demeter] giving … to his son, Triptolemos, the seed of barley and her *snake-drawn car.
1765. Goldsm., New Simile, 32, Essays 186. His hand Fill’d with a *snake-incircled wand.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, vii. 227. Nay, mother, hound not Those blood-faced, snake-encircled women on me!
1866. J. B. Rose, Ovid’s Met., 111. Tisiphone … *snake-engirdled issued forth in air.
1896. Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., V. 168. *Snake-eyed … lizards differ from all their kin in having no movable eyelids.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, V. i. 330. From the barre The *snake-hayrd Sisters dragge the prisoner.
1634. T. Carew, Cælum Brit., 9. Thus I charme … The Snake-heard Gorgon, and fierce Sagittar.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 65. These—long, lank, bony, *snake-headed, hairy, wild beasts.
1883. F. Day, Indian Fish, 33. The walking, or snake-headed fishes, Ophiocephalidæ, of India.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. i. They are a square-headed and *snake-necked generation.
c. 1880. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 255. The Snake-necked Tortoises of Monte Video, Buenos Ayres, and Southern Brazil.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. III. 250. Come *snake-trest Sisters, come ye dismall Elves. Ibid. (1605), II. iii. III. Law, 428. Smiting the Waves with his *Snake-wanded wood.
1682. N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, I. 85. A corner’d Cap her *Snake-wigg’d Head did cover.
11. Special combs.: † snake-board (see sense 5); snake-boat, a form of canoe used in the East (see quot. 1882); snake-box, (a) a box or case for keeping snakes; (b) a faro-box fraudulently made so that a slight projection called a snake warns the dealer of the approach of a particular card (Cent. Dict.); † snake-button, a snake-stone, adder-stone; snake-doctor, one who cures snake-bites; † snake-foot a. (rendering L. anguipes), snake-footed, as a poetic epithet of giants; snake juice, Austr. slang, whisky; snake-line, -piece (see quots.); snake-pill, a pill used as a remedy for snake-bite; snake-poison U.S., whisky; † snake-proof a., proof against snakes; in quot. fig.; snake-spit dial. (see quot.); snake story, yarn, an incredible tale about a snake, esp. in regard to its great length or size.
1882. Annandale, Imperial Dict., Pamban-manche.… A canoe of great length, used on the Malabar coast…. Called also Serpent-boat, *Snake-boat.
1900. Daily News, 14 Feb., 4/4. They have fifteen steam launches and a great number of snake boats at their service.
1886. P. Robinson, Teetotum Trees, 92. Very much like the showman’s *snake-box in which each reptile had swallowed the one next to it in size.
1699. E. Lhwyd, in Phil. Trans., XXVIII. 98. The *Snake-button is the same described … in Camden, by the Name of Adder-Beads.
1800. Asiatic Ann. Reg., 325. A specimen was brought me by a *snake-doctor.
1598. Chapman, Hero & Leander, vi. 46. To *snake-foote Boreas next she doth remoue.
1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 3 Sept., 3/2. This whisky, or *snake juice, as bushmen often call the hell-broth prepared for them, is very deadly in a hot climate.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2229/1. *Snake-line.… Line used in worming a rope.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Snake-pieces,… stout props, placed obliquely to the timbers of whalers, to sustain the shock of icebergs.
1800. Asiatic Ann. Reg., III. 125/1. So much I can say for the arsenic *snake pills, the only other remedy recommended.
1890. L. C. D’Oyle, Notches, 4. It was variously called for as tangle-foot, *snake-poison,… chain-lightning, or other fancy name, but it was never called for as whisky.
1609. Dekker, Gull’s Horn-bk., Wks. (Grosart), II. 203. I am *Snake-proof: and … it is impossible for you to quench … my Alpine-resolution.
1823. E. Moor, Suffolk Words, *Snake-spit. Small masses of delicately white frothy matter, seen on leaves of weeds or wild flowers, in the spring mostly; popularly believed to be the saliva of snakes.
1885. Hornaday, 2 Yrs. in Jungle, xxvii. 331. All the big *snake stories I had heard.
1891. E. Kinglake, Australian at H., 97. If anyone told a good anecdote with a dash of the *snake yarn about it.
b. In the specific or popular names of animals, birds, fishes, etc. (see quots.).
A large number of combs. of this type are given in recent American Dicts., as snake-blenny, -doctor, -feeder, -hag (= lizard), -mackerel, etc.
1881. Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., I. 330. Snedden…. At St. Ives the fishermen term the adult *snake-bait, and the young naked-bait.
1869–73. Cassell’s Bk. Birds, II. 49. About noon the *Snake Buzzard [Circaëtus gallicus] appears upon the river banks.
1863. [Catherine C. Hopley], Life in South, I. vii. 93. The cat-bird, or *snake-charmer.
1869–73. Cassell’s Bk. Birds, IV. 91. The *Snake Cranes (Dicholophus) constitute a group of remarkable birds.
1668. Charleton, Onomast., 113. Hoactzin,… the *Snake-eater of America.
1829. Griffith, trans. Cuvier, VI. 68. The Snake-Eater, or Secretary (Serpentarius).
1803. Shaw, Gen. Zool., IV. I. 23. *Snake Eel. Anguilla Serpens.
1866. Carpenter’s Zoology, II. 75. The Ophisurus, or Snake Eel (so called from its strong resemblance to a serpent) of the Mediterranean.
1668. Charleton, Onomast., 42. Serpentisuga,… the *Snake-fly.
1817. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxiii. (1818), II. 309. A kind of snake-fly (Raphidia Mantispa, F.), is said to walk upon its knees.
1882. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., VI. 15. The Snake-flies, or Camel-flies (Rhaphidiæ) form a small genus.
1781. Latham, Gen. Synop. Birds, I. I. 61. Swallow-tailed Falcon … inhabits Carolina in the summer months; where it is called *Snake-hawk.
1863. Russell, Diary North & South, I. 216. The young gentleman was good enough to bring over a snake hawk he had shot for me.
1816. Keatinge, Trav. (1817), I. 344. They have a remarkably swift and serviceable race of horses, which, from the lankness of their bodies compared to the Barbs, are called *snake-horses.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 189. Geococcyx,… Road Runner. *Snake Killer.
1902. P. Fountain, Mts. & Forests S. Amer., iv. 88–9. A hawk seen on all parts of the river [Purus] was a beautiful black and white one, known in the States as the *snake-kite, on account of its preying largely on those reptiles.
1802. Shaw, Gen. Zool., III. I. 305. *Snake-Lizards, with extremely long bodies, and short legs.
1866. Carpenter’s Zoology, I. 564. The Four-toed Saurophis, or Snake-Lizard, which is a native of the southern part of Africa.
1863. [Catherine C. Hopley], Life in South, I. vi. 87. That’s a *snake-maid [= dragon-fly].
1883. J. Curtis, Farm Insects, vii. 201. Linnæus gave them the generic name of Julus; and from the typical species resembling snakes in miniature,… I have applied to them the English appellation of *snake-millipedes.
1900. Davis, trans. Bos’ Agric. Zool. (ed. 2), 195. The Snake Millipedes … or ‘False Wireworms.’
c. 1880. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 200. The Darters (Plotus) … are also called *Snake-necks, from the habit they have of swimming with the body submerged and only the neck exposed above the water.
1713. Petiver, Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ, Tab. 16/32. Solen Anguinus,… *Snake pipes.
1804. Shaw, Gen. Zool., V. II. 453. *Snake Pipefish,… Syngnathus Ophidion.
1883. Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., II. 261. Ocean pipe-fish and snake pipe-fish.
1868. Darwin, Var. Anim. & Plants, xv. II. 87. Some *snake-rats (Mus alexandrinus) escaped in the Zoological Gardens.
1713. Petiver, Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ, Tab. xii. Serpentulus,… *Snake-shell.
1800. Shaw, Gen. Zool., III. I. 72. *Snake Tortoise. Testudo Serpentina.
c. In the names of plants, etc. (see quots.).
Various others occurring in dialect or local use are recorded in the Eng. Dial. Dict. and recent American Dicts.
1846–50. A. Wood, Class-bk. Bot., 275. Cereus flagelliformis,… *Snake Cactus.
1866. Treas. Bot., 652/1. Kunthia, a genus of palms … of New Grenada, where the natives call it Cana de la Vibora, i. e. *Snake Cane, from the resemblance of its stem to a snake.
1882. Garden, 1 April, 219/3. Packets of seed of various plants, including Water Melons and *Snake Cucumbers.
1902. Cornish, Naturalist Thames, 170. The fritillaries, the chequered red or pale *‘snake-flowers,’ are grass-lovers.
1823. Crabb, Technol. Dict., II. s.v., *Snake-gourd.
1857. Henfrey, Bot., § 479. The Snake-gourd, Trichosanthes anguina, is eaten in India.
1901. Bailey & Miller, Cycl. Amer. Horticult., II. 874. The long curved forms [of Lagenaria vulgaris] are often called snake gourds in this country.
1883. A. K. Green (Mrs. Rohlfs), Hand & Ring, i. The ground is marshy and covered with *snake grass.
1845. Lindley, Sch. Bot., 154. Lycopodium clavatum (Clubmoss, *Snakemoss).
1845–50. Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., App. 144. Pogonia ophioglossoides (*snake-mouth arethusa).
1846. Lindley, Veg. Kingd., 383. The nut of a Demerara tree, called the *Snake-nut, in consequence of the large embryo, resembling a snake coiled up.
1849. Balfour, Man. Bot., § 807. Ophiocaryon paradoxum, is the Snake-nut-tree of Demerara.
1885. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Rec., Ser. IV. 277/1. The best variety is known under several names, as those of the *snake osier [etc.].
1883. W. Robinson, Eng. Flower Garden (1901), 436. Arum Dracunculus (Dragons, *Snake Plant).
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIII. 152/2. Strychnos colubrina, Snake-wood, or *Snake-poison Nut, is a climbing plant with simple tendrils.
1832. Don, Gen. Syst. Gard. & Bot., II. 60/1. Ophispermum Sinense..., China *Snake-seed.
1866. Treas. Bot., 815/2. The fruits [of Ophiocaryon paradoxum] are often sent to this country as curiosities, under the name of Snake-nuts or Snake-seeds.
1880. Jefferies, Gt. Estate, 87. The *snake-skin willow, so called because it sheds its bark.
1632. Sherwood, Snake-weede, *snake-wort, bistorte.
12. In collocations with snake’s, chiefly in plant-names (see quots.).
Cf. also the Eng. Dial. Dict. and recent American Dicts.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1067/2. *Snake’s beard, Ophiopogon.
1597. Gerarde, Herball, II. cclxxii. 658–9. Buglosse … is called … in English vipers Buglosse, *Snakes Buglosse.
1611. Cotgr., Ail Sauvage, Wild Garlicke,… Stags Garlicke, *Snakes Garlicke.
1887. G. Nicholson, Dict. Gard., III. 447. *Snake’s-mouth Orchis…. Pogonia ophioglossum.
c. 1675. R. Cromwell, Lett., in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1898), XIII. 93. He hath sent of the *Snakes root of Verginnia … as the best of cordialls.
1879. Folk-Lore Rec., II. 81–2. The … *snake’s-spit, or wood-sear of England and Scotland;… is a froth discharged by the young froghoppers.
1863. Prior, Plant-n., s.v., *Snake’s tail, from its cylindrical spikes, Rottböllia incurvata.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1067/2. Snake’s-tail, Lepturus incurvus. Ibid., *Snake’s-tongue, Lygodium.
1902. Bailey & Miller, Cycl. Amer. Hort., IV. 1673. Snake’s Tongue, Ophioglossum.
