serpent

/ˈsʌrpənt/

/ˈsʌpɪnt/

Other forms: serpents

A serpent is a snake. If you keep a serpent as a pet, you may have to get used to feeding it live mice.

While you're probably more likely to use the word snake for this slithery reptile, serpent tends to be the word that shows up in folk tales and mythology. Serpents have represented qualities ranging from evil to fertility to poison throughout history, and even today the symbol of medicine is a staff entwined by a serpent. The Latin root is serpentem, "creeping thing," from serpere, "to creep."

Definitions of serpent

1. noun

   limbless scaly elongate reptile; some are venomous
   synonyms: ophidian, snake

   types:

   colubrid, colubrid snake

   mostly harmless temperate-to-tropical terrestrial or arboreal or aquatic snakes

   blind snake, worm snake

   wormlike burrowing snake of warm regions having vestigial eyes

   constrictor

   any of various large nonvenomous snakes that kill their prey by crushing it in its coils

   elapid, elapid snake

   any of numerous venomous fanged snakes of warmer parts of both hemispheres

   sea snake

   any of numerous venomous aquatic viviparous snakes having a fin-like tail; of warm littoral seas; feed on fish which they immobilize with quick-acting venom

   viper

   venomous Old World snakes characterized by hollow venom-conducting fangs in the upper jaw

   hoop snake

   any of various harmless North American snakes that were formerly believed to take tail in mouth and roll along like a hoop

   Carphophis amoenus, thunder snake, worm snake

   small reddish wormlike snake of eastern United States

   ring snake, ring-necked snake, ringneck snake

   any of numerous small nonvenomous North American snakes with a yellow or orange ring around the neck

   hognose snake, puff adder, sand viper

   harmless North American snake with upturned nose; may spread its head and neck or play dead when disturbed

   leaf-nosed snake

   any of various pale blotched snakes with a blunt snout of southwestern North America

   grass snake, green snake

   either of two North American chiefly insectivorous snakes that are green in color

   green snake

   any of numerous African colubrid snakes

   racer

   slender fast-moving North American snakes

   whip snake, whip-snake, whipsnake

   any of several small fast-moving snakes with long whiplike tails

   rat snake

   any of various nonvenomous rodent-eating snakes of North America and Asia

   Arizona elegans, glossy snake

   nocturnal burrowing snake of western United States with shiny tan scales

   bull snake, bull-snake

   any of several large harmless rodent-eating North American burrowing snakes

   king snake, kingsnake

   any of numerous nonvenomous North American constrictors; feed on other snakes and small mammals

   garter snake, grass snake

   a small, nonvenomous snake with stripes, common in North and Central America

   Tropidoclonion lineatum, lined snake

   secretive snake of city dumps and parks as well as prairies and open woods; feeds on earthworms; of central United States

   Sonora semiannulata, ground snake

   small shy brightly-ringed terrestrial snake of arid or semiarid areas of western North America

   Haldea striatula, Potamophis striatula, eastern ground snake

   in some classifications placed in genus Haldea; small reddish-grey snake of eastern North America

   water snake

   any of various mostly harmless snakes that live in or near water

   Storeria occipitamaculata, red-bellied snake

   harmless woodland snake of southeastern United States

   sand snake

   small North American burrowing snake

   black-headed snake

   small secretive ground-living snake; found from central United States to Argentina

   vine snake

   slender arboreal snake found from southern Arizona to Bolivia

   lyre snake

   mildly venomous snake with a lyre-shaped mark on the head; found in rocky areas from southwestern United States to Central America

   Hypsiglena torquata, night snake

   nocturnal prowler of western United States and Mexico

   Leptotyphlops humilis, western blind snake

   burrows among roots of shrubs and beneath rocks in desert and rocky hillside areas and beach sand of western United States

   Drymarchon corais, gopher snake, indigo snake

   large dark-blue nonvenomous snake that invades burrows; found in southern North America and Mexico

   boa

   any of several chiefly tropical constrictors with vestigial hind limbs

   New World coral snake, coral snake, harlequin-snake

   any of several venomous New World snakes brilliantly banded in red and black and either yellow or white; widely distributed in South America and Central America

   Old World coral snake, coral snake

   any of various venomous elapid snakes of Asia and Africa and Australia

   Denisonia superba, copperhead

   venomous but sluggish reddish-brown snake of Australia

   cobra

   a venomous Asiatic and African elapid snake that can expand the skin of the neck into a hood

   Hemachatus haemachatus, ringhals, rinkhals, spitting snake

   highly venomous snake of southern Africa able to spit venom up to seven feet

   mamba

   arboreal snake of central and southern Africa whose bite is often fatal

   Acanthophis antarcticus, death adder

   venomous Australian snake resembling an adder

   Notechis scutatus, tiger snake

   highly venomous brown-and-yellow snake of Australia and Tasmania

   Australian blacksnake, Pseudechis porphyriacus

   large semiaquatic snake of Australia; black above with red belly

   krait

   brightly colored venomous but nonaggressive snake of southeastern Asia and Malay peninsula

   Oxyuranus scutellatus, taipan

   large highly venomous snake of northeastern Australia

   Vipera berus, adder, common viper

   small terrestrial viper common in northern Eurasia

   Vipera aspis, asp, asp viper

   of southern Europe; similar to but smaller than the adder

   Bitis arietans, puff adder

   large African viper that inflates its body when alarmed

   Bitis gabonica, gaboon viper

   large heavy-bodied brilliantly marked and extremely venomous west African viper

   Cerastes cornutus, cerastes, horned asp, horned viper, sand viper

   highly venomous viper of northern Africa and southwestern Asia having a horny spine above each eye

   pit viper

   New World vipers with hollow fangs and a heat-sensitive pit on each side of the head

   type of:

   diapsid, diapsid reptile

   reptile having a pair of openings in the skull behind each eye
2. noun

   a firework that moves in serpentine manner when ignited
   type of:

   firework, pyrotechnic

   (usually plural) a device with an explosive that burns at a low rate and with colored flames; can be used to illuminate areas or send signals etc.
3. noun

   an obsolete bass cornet; resembles a snake
   type of:

   cornet, horn, trump, trumpet

   a brass musical instrument with a brilliant tone; has a narrow tube and a flared bell and is played by means of valves