snake

[sneyk] /sneɪk/

noun

any of numerous limbless, scaly, elongate reptiles of the suborder Serpentes, comprising venomous and nonvenomous species inhabiting tropical and temperate areas.

a treacherous person; an insidious enemy.

Compare snake in the grass.

Building Trades.

Also called auger, plumber's snake. (in plumbing) a device for dislodging obstructions in curved pipes, having a head fed into the pipe at the end of a flexible metal band.
Also called wirepuller. a length of resilient steel wire, for threading through an electrical conduit so that wire can be pulled through after it.

verb (used without object), snaked, snaking.

to move, twist, or wind:

The road snakes among the mountains.

verb (used with object), snaked, snaking.

to wind or make (one's course, way, etc.) in the manner of a snake:

to snake one's way through a crowd.

to drag or haul, especially by a chain or rope, as a log.

Origin

before 1000; Middle English (noun); Old English snaca; cognate with Middle Low German snake, Old Norse snākr

Related forms

snakelike, adjective

Examples from the web for snake

Learn why it is the reptile of choice for exotic snake charmers.
Parts of the snake-fence in the rear have been broken down.
But suddenly, out of the depths of the pond, a water snake raised his horrid head.
Most of us, for instance, experience a feeling of repulsion in the presence of a snake.
He had snake oil to sell us, something that would make everything better by restoring our moral vitality.
Thin multicolored lines snake upward in parallel, then branch out in twos and threes, their tips capped by tiny leaves.
When he got home, he lifted the snake and laid it in the terrarium, then he opened the lid of the rat's box.
She was terrified, but managed to appear calm for what was certainly her first physical contact with any snake.
They remain inactive for much of the time, and to determine actual densities of snake populations requires mark-recapture studies.
Those ignorant people are busy listening to some other huckster peddling financial snake oil.

British Dictionary definitions for snake

snake

/sneɪk/

noun

any reptile of the suborder Ophidia (or Serpentes), typically having a scaly cylindrical limbless body, fused eyelids, and a jaw modified for swallowing large prey: includes venomous forms such as cobras and rattlesnakes, large nonvenomous constrictors (boas and pythons), and small harmless types such as the grass snake related adjectives colubrine ophidian

Also called snake in the grass. a deceitful or treacherous person

anything resembling a snake in appearance or action

(in the European Union) a former system of managing a group of currencies by allowing the exchange rate of each of them only to fluctuate within narrow limits

a tool in the form of a long flexible wire for unblocking drains

verb

(intransitive) to glide or move like a snake

(transitive) (US) to haul (a heavy object, esp a log) by fastening a rope around one end of it

(transitive) (US) (often foll by out) to pull jerkily

(transitive) to move in or follow (a sinuous course)

Derived Forms

snakelike, adjective

Word Origin

Old English snaca; related to Old Norse snākr snake, Old High German snahhan to crawl, Norwegian snōk snail

Word Origin and History for snake

Old English snaca, from Proto-Germanic *snakon (cf. Old Norse snakr "snake," Swedish snok, German Schnake "ring snake"), from PIE root *sneg- "to crawl, creeping thing" (cf. Old Irish snaighim "to creep," Lithuanian snake "snail," Old High German snahhan "to creep"). In Modern English, gradually replacing serpent in popular use.

Traditionally applied to the British serpent, as distinguished from the poisonous adder. Meaning "treacherous person" first recorded 1580s (cf. Old Church Slavonic gadu "reptile," gadinu "foul, hateful"). Applied from 17c. to various snake-like devices and appliances. Snakes! as an exclamation is from 1839.

Snake eyes in crap-shooting sense is from 1919. Snake oil is from 1927. Snake-bitten "unlucky" is sports slang from 1957, from a literal sense, perhaps suggesting one doomed by being poisoned. The game of Snakes and Ladders is attested from 1907. Snake charmer is from 1813. Snake pit is from 1883, as a supposed primitive test of truth or courage; figurative sense is from 1941. Phrase snake in the grass is from Virgil's Latet anguis in herba [Ecl. III:93].

1650s, "to twist or wind (hair) into the form of a snake," from snake (n.). The intransitive sense of "to move like a snake" is attested from 1848; that of "to wind or twist like a snake" (of roads, etc.) is from 1875. Related: Snaked; snaking.

Slang definitions & phrases for snake

snake

noun

A young woman (WWI Navy)
(also Snake) A native or resident of West Virginia (1934+)
: US banks, railways, airlines, and some fast-food restaurants have switched over almost entirely to what is known as the ''snake,'' where all stations are served by one single-file line (1980s+)

verb

To depart, esp unobtrusively; sneak: He snakes out of here without an overcoat (1848+)