snake

      See also Snake

      English

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      Wikipedia

      A snake (anaconda).

      Etymology

      From Middle English snāke, from Old English snaca (“snake, serpent, reptile”), from Proto-Germanic *snakô (compare dialectal German Schnake (“adder”), dialectal Low German Schnaak (“snake”), Swedish snok (“grass snake”)), from *snakanan 'to crawl' (compare Old High German snahhan), from Proto-Indo-European *snag-, *sneg- 'to crawl; a creeping thing' (compare Sanskrit नाग (nāga, “snake”)).

      Pronunciation

      Noun

      snake (plural snakes)

      1. A legless reptile of the sub-order Serpentes with a long, thin body and a fork-shaped tongue.
      2. A treacherous person.
        • 1838, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby[2]:
          Mrs. Kenwigs was horror-stricken to think that she should ever have nourished in her bosom such a snake, adder, viper, serpent, and base crocodile, as Henrietta Petowker.
      3. A tool for unclogging plumbing.
      4. A tool to aid cable pulling.
      5. (slang) A trouser snake; the penis.

      Synonyms

      Derived terms

      Terms derived from snake (noun)

      Translations

      legless reptile
      treacherous person
      plumbing tool
      The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
      Translations to be checked

      Verb

      snake (third-person singular simple present snakes, present participle snaking, simple past and past participle snaked)

      1. (intransitive) To follow or move in a winding route.
        The path snaked through the forest.
        • 1996 September 24, Mark Addinall, “Football fever...”, aus.personals, Usenet:
          Any Brisbane female interested in snaking down a few beers whilst watching the footy on a big screen?
        The river snakes through the valley.
      2. (transitive, Australia, slang) To steal slyly.
        He snaked my DVD!
        • 2001 April 5, Hyena, “Home made supercharger ?”, aus.cars, Usenet:
          Although it wouldn't be the first time some one patented an idea that I'd had a year earlier. […] Someone already has :) […] F*CK ME !!  Snaked again !
      3. (transitive) To clean using a plumbing snake.
      4. (US, informal) To drag or draw, as a snake from a hole; often with out.
        (Can we find and add a quotation of Bartlett to this entry?)
      5. (nautical) To wind round spirally, as a large rope with a smaller, or with cord, the small rope lying in the spaces between the strands of the large one; to worm.

      Synonyms

      Translations

      to move in a winding path

      See also

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      Last modified on 14 June 2013, at 07:03