| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈviperine, n.1 rare.
[f. viper + -ine5.]
(See quot.)
1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. v. ii. 284 Prince Lucien Bonaparte has shown that the poison of the Viper consists essentially of a principle to which he has given the name Echidnine or Viperine.
▪ II. viperine, a. and n.2|ˈvaɪpəraɪn, -ɪn|
Also 8 -in.
[ad. L. vīperīn-us (hence OF. viperin, F. vipérin, It., Sp., and Pg. viperino), f. vīpera viper: see -ine1.]
1. Resembling a viper or that of a viper; having the nature or character of a viper; venomous, viperous; viper-like. Chiefly in fig. or allusive use (cf. viper 3).
a1550Image Hypocr. ii. 291 in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 426 His county pallantyne Haue coustome colubryne, With codes viperyne And sectes serpentyne. 1604R. Cawdrey Table Alph. (1613), Viperine, like a viper, or of a viper. 1648E. Simmons Pref. to Wodenote's Herm. Theol. A 8 b, If ever the Title of Rex diabolorum was rightly applyable to the King of this land, 'tis since the viperine birth of these miscreants. 1657J. Sergeant Schism Dispach't 22 Lingua viperea! Viperine tongue! 1697Evelyn Numism. ix. 299 Cæsar Borgia's Viperine Aspect. 1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 150 Of all the Poetick Salts,..the Satyrical [is] most Viperin and Piercing, the Eclogist and Idilian the most Country-wise and Native. 1873Routledge's Yng. Gentl. Mag. June 401/1 He [a grass-snake] raised himself up in true viperine fashion.
†b. fig. Of glosses (see viper 3 a). Obs.
1647Trapp Comm. Matt. v. 22 Our Saviour..taking away their viperine glosses that did eat out the bowels of the text. 1648Commoner's Liberty 18 Had he any other way to weaken what must of necessity be inferred from them, but by such viperine glosses.
c. Of persons.
1652Gaule Magastrom. 362 Archilocus, a viperine satyrist, and not onely so, but a petulant obscure poet. 1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. To Rdr. 40 Implacable Enemies of the most invenemated Viperin, or rather Draconick kind, who are..continually gnawing and corroding the very Bowels..of the Church of England. 1845Browning Lett. (1899) I. 48 A viperine she-friend of mine who, I think, rather loves me, she does so hate me. 1903Times 16 Dec. 11/5 The convention of the virtuous heroine and the viperine adventuress.
2. Of or pertaining to a viper; obtained from or natural to vipers.
1608Topsell Serpents 286 They [tortoises] eate Origan, for that herbe is an antidote against Viperine poyson for them. 1684tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. x. 347 Viperine Medicines are good in the Itch and Leprosie. 1702R. Mead Poisons 33 The main Efficacy of the Viperine Flesh is to quicken the Circle of the Blood. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Viper, The Virus..proves a nimble Vehicle to carry the Viperine Spicula almost every where suddenly. 1851W. J. Broderip Leaves fr. Note Bk. Nat. (1852) 224 The viperine remedy had classical authority for its ministration. 1904Brit. Med. Jrnl. 17 Sept. 670 These two being examples of mixed colubrine and viperine poisons.
3. Zool. Of snakes: Resembling or related to the common viper; now spec. belonging to the suborder Viperina (Solenoglypha).
1802Shaw Gen. Zool. III. ii. 355 Viperine Boa. Boa Viperina. 1870Gillmore tr. Figuier's Reptiles & Birds ii. 41 His Venomous Colubrine Snakes have certainly a much nearer resemblance in other respects to the Colubridæ than they have to the Viperine Snakes. Ibid. 47 The Viperine Snake (Tropidonotus viperinus)... This is the smallest of all the European Colubridæ. 1887Günther in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 191/1 The poison of Viperine snakes invariably destroys its coagulability.
4. n. Zool. A snake belonging to the Viperina.
1887Günther in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 191/1 In the other venomous snakes (Viperines and Crotalines) the maxillary bone is very short. Ibid. 198/2 The Death Adder..differs from the other Viperines in having the poison-fang permanently erect. |