snaken.
/sneɪk/, U.S. /sneɪk/ 1. figurative and in extended use.1821 P. B. Shelley Adonais xxii. 14 Swift as a Thought by the snake Memory stung.1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iii. 48 At these words the snake, My secret, seem'd to stir within my breast.1879 F. W. Farrar Life & Work St. Paul II. x. xlvii. 426 The Apostle first tramples on the snake of any mere personal annoyance.1885 Times (Weekly ed.) 18 Sept. 14/3 There must be snakes of some sort in each earthly Eden.
a. 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 frequently distinguished by a prefix denoting colour 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).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > amphibians > [noun] > order Apoda (caecilians) > member of
snakec1000
apodal1856
caecilian-
the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Ophidia (snakes) > [noun] > member of (snake)
addereOE
snakec1000
serpentc1305
boske addre1382
colubrec1480
culeuvre1481
ophidian1821
Joe Blake1927
the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Lacertilia (lizards) > [noun] > family Cordylidae > member of (snake)
snakec1000
cordyl1608
anguine lizard1776
zonure1883
the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Lacertilia (lizards) > [noun] > family Anguidae > member of genus Ophiosaurus (glass-snake)
snakec1000
chain-snake1737
glass-snake1737
joint-snake1796
sheltopusik1841
ophiosaurian1882
ophisaur1890
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) x. 19 Ic sealde eow anweald to tredenne ofer næddran & snacan.
a1023 Wulfstan Homilies 192 Sy Dan snaca on wege and næddre on pæðe.
1154 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) ann. 1137 Hi dyden heom in quarterne þar nadres & snakes & pades wæron inne.
a1200 Moral Ode 273 Þeor beð naddren and snaken, eueten and frude.
13.. K. Alis. 5972 For hij libben by addren, and snaken.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2805 It warp vt of hise hond, And wurð sone an uglike snake.
a1340 R. Rolle Psalter xiii. 5 Tricherously þai wroght venome of snakis vndire þe lippes of þa.
1412–20 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. 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. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 173 Edder, Snack, swift, or such like.
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Qiiv/2 A Snayke, anguis.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. vi. 168 Th' Eft, Snake, and Dipsas (causing deadly thirst).
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) ii. v. 40 Thou shouldst come like a Furie crown'd with Snakes . View more context for this quotation
1660 J. Childrey Britannia Baconica 73 No Snakes or Adders to be found about Badminton.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 162 That horrible fætor which even the commonest and the most harmless snakes are still found to diffuse.
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna i. xiii. 7 Then..would the Snake Relax his suffocating grasp.
1847 F. W. L. Leichhardt Jrnl. Overland Exped. Austral. i. 16 A carpet snake and a brown snake with yellow belly.
1873 J. W. Dawson Story Earth & Man ix. 217 A peculiarity, seen in some snakes, namely a joint in the middle of the jaw enabling its sides to expand.
b. A representation, image, or figure of a snake.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > representation in art > [noun] > an artistic representation > of living thing > animal > specific
white horse1273
lintworm1423
serpentinec1440
horsec1540
wolf1562
whelk?1578
snake1579
snake-head1865
singerie1920
1579–80 in J. Nichols Progresses Queen Elizabeth 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 Symbolic Lang. (1876) 15 The winged disk of the sun is placed between two hooded snakes (or asps).
1859 Ld. Tennyson Merlin & Vivien 737 in Idylls of King She hung her head, The snake of gold slid from her hair.
1903 J. E. Harrison Proleg. Study Greek Relig. vii. 331 The snakes sculptured on the top round the hollow cup.
c. In plural as an exclamation, esp. great snakes!
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > exclamation of surprise [interjection]
whatOE
well, wellOE
avoyc1300
ouc1300
ay1340
lorda1393
ahaa1400
hillaa1400
whannowc1450
wow1513
why?1520
heydaya1529
ah1538
ah me!a1547
fore me!a1547
o me!a1547
what the (also a) goodyear1570
precious coals1576
Lord have mercy (on us)1581
good heavens1588
whau1589
coads1590
ay me!1591
my stars!a1593
Gods me1595
law1598
Godso1600
to go out1600
coads-nigs1608
for mercy!a1616
good stars!1615
mercy on us (also me, etc.)!a1616
gramercy1617
goodness1623
what next?1662
mon Dieu1665
heugh1668
criminy1681
Lawd1696
the dickens1697
(God, etc.) bless my heart1704
alackaday1705
(for) mercy's sake!1707
my1707
deuce1710
gracious1712
goodly and gracious1713
my word1722
my stars and garters!1758
lawka1774
losha1779
Lord bless me (also you, us, etc.)1784
great guns!1795
mein Gott1795
Dear me!1805
fancy1813
well, I'm sure!1815
massy1817
Dear, dear!1818
to get off1818
laws1824
Mamma mia1824
by crikey1826
wisha1826
alleleu1829
crackey1830
Madonna mia1830
indeed1834
to go on1835
snakes1839
Jerusalem1840
sapristi1840
oh my days1841
tear and ages1841
what (why, etc.) in time?1844
sakes alive!1846
gee willikers1847
to get away1847
well, to be sure!1847
gee1851
Great Scott1852
holy mackerel!1855
doggone1857
lawsy1868
my wig(s)!1871
gee whiz1872
crimes1874
yoicks1881
Christmas1882
hully gee1895
'ullo1895
my hat!1899
good (also great) grief!1900
strike me pink!1902
oo-er1909
what do you know?1909
cripes1910
coo1911
zowiec1913
can you tie that?1918
hot diggety1924
yeow1924
ziggety1924
stone (or stiffen) the crows1930
hullo1931
tiens1932
whammo1932
po po po1936
how about that?1939
hallo1942
brother1945
tie that!1948
surprise1953
wowee1963
yikes1971
never1974
to sod off1976
whee1978
mercy1986
yipes1989
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > feeling of wonder, astonishment > exclamation of wonder [interjection]
ahaa1400
ocha1522
heydaya1529
ah1538
ah me!a1547
fore me!a1547
o me!a1547
gossea1556
ay me!1591
o (also oh) rare!1596
law1598
strangec1670
lack-a-day1695
stap my vitals1697
alackaday1705
prodigious1707
my word1722
(by) golly1743
gosh1757
Dear me!1805
Madre de Dios1815
Great Jove!1819
I snum1825
crikey1826
my eye1826
crackey1830
snakes1839
Great Scott1852
holy mackerel!1855
whoops1870
this beats my grandmother1883
wow1892
great balls of fire1893
oo-er1909
zowiec1913
crimes1929
yowa1943
wowee1963
Madre mia!1964
yikes1971
whee1978
chingas1984
the mind > emotion > exclamation of emotion [interjection]
goodness1623
agad1672
Godsokers1672
Oh dear!1694
law1763
lud1767
Dear me!1773
Lor1776
dear knows!1805
Great God!1819
Great Scott1852
Jehoshaphat1857
lors1860
Great Sun!1867
Great Caesar!1870
gracious me!1884
my (giddy, sainted, etc.) aunt!1886
snakes1891
lieber Gott1898
my gosh!1920
cor1931
1839 Spirit of Times 17 Aug. 283/3 Snakes! such a row!
1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms II. xi. 190 So the muchacha went back on yer—snakes alive! I kinder expected it.
1891 Scribner's Mag. Sept. 293/1 Why in snakes should anybody want to be a sculptor, if you come to that?
1897 F. T. Bullen Cruise ‘Cachalot’ (1901) i. 4 Great snakes! why, here's a sailor man for sure.
1922 E. Raymond Tell Eng. ix. 122 I thought we'd be last for the Swimming Cup. But snakes alive! we'll get in the semi-final.
1927 G. D. H. Cole & M. Cole Murder at Crome House xxii. 271 But, snakes, Flint—this is Exeter!
1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart i. 15 Holy snakes! look at Bill.
2. In figurative or allusive uses:† c. to eat (or feed on) snakes, as a means of renewing one's youth or vigour. Obsolete.
a. With reference to the ingratitude or treachery displayed by the snake in Æsop's fable (1. x).
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > undutifulness > treachery > [noun] > treacherous person
swikec1000
adderOE
traitor?c1225
Scariotc1380
murdererc1390
Judasc1405
proditor1436
cuckoo1581
Sinon1581
treachetour1590
viper1596
serpent1600
snakea1616
tradenta1626
Iscariot1647
dog1846
double-crosser1888
two-timer1927
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iii. i. 343 I feare me, you but warme the starued Snake, Who cherisht in your breasts, will sting your hearts. View more context for this quotation
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 763 Drawn to wear out miserable days, Entangl'd with a poysnous bosom snake . View more context for this quotation
1688 Sir S. Morland in Pepys' Diary & Corr. (1879) VI. 160 To assure me that I was taking a snake into my bosom.
1865 C. Kingsley Hereward 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 phrase a snake in the grass (after Virgil Ecl. iii. 93 Latet anguis in herba).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > [noun] > instance or cause of > hidden
pitfallc1390
wevet1499
a pad in the straw1530
shelf1560
trapfall1596
snake1611
trapdoor1648
mantrap1798
death-trap1828
nigger in the woodpile1852
—— in the woodpile1857
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > stealthy action, stealth > lurking, skulking > [noun] > hidden danger
snake1611
1611 W. Barksted Hiren sig. C6 O could this diuell my soule so transforme, That I must eate that snake in him did lurke.
1659 Haslerig in T. Burton Diary (1828) IV. 337 Consider what a snake lies under this fair Declaration.
1677 A. Yarranton England's Improvem. 101 Hold, hold, you drive too fast; there is a snake in the Bush.
1696 C. Leslie (title) The snake in the grass; or, Satan.
1709 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1886) II. 173 There is a Snake in the grasse, and the designe is mischievous.
1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) Sneck-i'-the-gress, a sneak; a traitor; a treacherous deceiver.
1907 E. Gosse Father & Son xi. 281 He did not scruple to remind the Deity of various objections to a life of pleasure and of the snakes that lie hidden in the grass of evening parties.
1978 J. Irving World according to Garp xiv. 271 We were playing in Dallas, when that snake in the grass..came up on my blind side.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > age > youth > [verb (intransitive)] > renew one's youth
to eat (or feed on) snakesa1627
a1627 T. Middleton & W. Rowley Old Law (1656) v. 61 He hath left of late to feed on snakes, His beards turnd white again.
1630 T. Dekker Second Pt. Honest Whore i. ii. 46 Hip..you looke youthfull still. Orl. I eate Snakes, my Lord, I eate Snakes. My heart shall neuer haue a wrinkle in it.
1637 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Elder Brother iv. iv. sig. H3v That you have eate a snake, and are growne young, gamesome, and rampant.
d. to wake snakes, (a) (see quot. 1872); (b) to rouse oneself, to look lively; (c) see wake v. 8c; to have snakes in one's boots, to see snakes, to have delirium tremens. U.S. slang.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin action or activity [verb (intransitive)] > bestir oneself
arisec825
to start upc1275
stirc1275
shifta1400
awakea1450
to put out one's fins?1461
wake1523
to shake one's ears1580
rouse1589
bestira1616
awaken1768
arouse1822
waken1825
to wake snakes1835
roust1841
to flax round1884
to get busy1896
to get one's arse in gear1948
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] > go away suddenly or hastily
fleec825
runOE
swervea1225
biwevec1275
skip1338
streekc1380
warpa1400
yerna1400
smoltc1400
stepc1460
to flee (one's) touch?1515
skirr1548
rubc1550
to make awaya1566
lope1575
scuddle1577
scoura1592
to take the start1600
to walk off1604
to break awaya1616
to make off1652
to fly off1667
scuttle1681
whew1684
scamper1687
whistle off1689
brush1699
to buy a brush1699
to take (its, etc.) wing1704
decamp1751
to take (a) French leave1751
morris1765
to rush off1794
to hop the twig1797
to run along1803
scoot1805
to take off1815
speela1818
to cut (also make, take) one's lucky1821
to make (take) tracks (for)1824
absquatulize1829
mosey1829
absquatulate1830
put1834
streak1834
vamoose1834
to put out1835
cut1836
stump it1841
scratch1843
scarper1846
to vamoose the ranch1847
hook1851
shoo1851
slide1859
to cut and run1861
get1861
skedaddle1862
bolt1864
cheese it1866
to do a bunkc1870
to wake snakes1872
bunk1877
nit1882
to pull one's freight1884
fooster1892
to get the (also to) hell out (of)1892
smoke1893
mooch1899
to fly the coop1901
skyhoot1901
shemozzle1902
to light a shuck1905
to beat it1906
pooter1907
to take a run-out powder1909
blow1912
to buzz off1914
to hop it1914
skate1915
beetle1919
scram1928
amscray1931
boogie1940
skidoo1949
bug1950
do a flit1952
to do a scarper1958
to hit, split or take the breeze1959
to do a runner1980
to be (also get, go) ghost1986
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [verb (intransitive)] > have delirium tremens
to have snakes in one's boots1877
1835 A. B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes 6 Oh, wake snakes, and walk your chalks!
c1859 in J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (1860) 498 Well, here I be; wake snakes, the day's a-breaking.
1872 M. S. 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.
e. snakes in Iceland: used allusively (see quot. 1758) of something posited only to be dismissed as non-existent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [noun] > that which is non-existent > something posited or dismissed as non-existent
snakes in Iceland1791
1758 tr. N. Horrebow Nat. Hist. Iceland lxxii. 91 No snakes of any kind are to be met with throughout the whole island.]
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1778 II. 220 Johnson had said that he could repeat a complete chapter of ‘The Natural History of Iceland’, from the Danish of Horrebow, the whole of which was exactly thus:‘Chap. lxxii. Concerning snakes. There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island’.
1906 Spectator 5 May 716/1 ‘The Value of a Public School Education’ reminds one of the chapter on the snakes in Iceland... ‘So far as the school at large is concerned every Greek and Latin book should be destroyed.’
1978 C. Sykes in R. Buckle U & Non-U Revisited 60 And what about hats? Of them it may be said as was said of snakes in The Natural History of Iceland.
f. lower than a snake's belly: despicable, very low indeed. Australian slang.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > condition of being held in contempt > contemptible [phrase]
like thirty cents1906
lower than a snake's belly1932
1932 L. Mann Flesh in Armour 191 ‘It was a dirty trick. He knew about me and her.’ ‘Dirty! Lower than a snake's belly.’
1951 D. Cusack Say no to Death 20 He'd only have to take one look at Jan to be convinced in his honest old heart that his son was lower than a snake's belly.
1965 J. Beede They hosed them Out 175 I thought, ‘if I have to crawl to this illegitimate I'll get lower than a snake's belly.’
3.
a. Applied to persons, esp. with contemptuous or opprobrious force; in early use frequently poor snake, a poor, needy, or humble person; a drudge.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] > poor person
poorc1225
poor man?c1225
beggar1340
goodlessa1350
poreleta1382
miserable1484
poor one1562
bankrupt?1563
indigent1563
poorling1581
poor snake1590
needling1608
desperviewa1640
have-nota1739
angishore1835
little worth1885
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > low rank or condition > [noun] > person
swaina1150
ladc1300
loon1535
blue coat1583
gaffer1589
snake1590
meaner1596
frock1612
groundling1630
frock-man1657
coolie1803
simple1824
yellow dog1862
Harry1874
smock-frock1898
(a)
(b)a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iv. iii. 71 I see Loue hath made thee a tame snake . View more context for this quotation1643 R. Baker Chron. Kings of Eng. i. 112 The Dragon once appeased or destroyed, these lesser Snakes will soone be trodden downe.1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle's Log I. vii. 201 Don't provoke me to try, you yellow snake, you!1897 A. C. Gunter Susan Turnbull xvi. 193 Do you remember a little toadying snake who used to be at school with us?1590 R. Greene Mourning Garment 42 The Gentleman..seeing such a poore snake to hinder his attempt, thought to check him with a frowne.
1597 R. Tofte Laura iii. xx. sig. D8v Thou Cupid worke, that I (poore Snake in loue) This sdainfull Snake for to be kinde may moue.
c1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) v. 2221 A poore snake, whose best of meanes Is but to live on that he dayly gleanes.
1665 R. Brathwait Comment Two Tales Chaucer (1900) 42 These poor Snakes of hers were far from challenging any property in either.
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth I. ix. 233 This Doctor Doboobie had a servant, a poor snake, whom he employed in trimming his furnace,..compounding his drugs [etc.].
b. U.S. and Australian slang. (See quots.) Cf. snake charmer n. at Compounds 4a below.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway worker > [noun] > track maintenance workers
gangman1830
platelayer1836
wayman1840
surfaceman1845
lineman1858
track-layera1861
track-man1881
linesman1883
track-walker1890
lengthman1902
underman1921
gandy dancer1923
snake1929
fluffer1956
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > builder > [noun] > builders or maintainers of railways
surfaceman1845
snake1929
snake charmer1937
1929 Bookman (U.S.) July 526/1 A Snake has many jobs. If he's a Hump-brakey he handles the cars rolled onto a series of tracks placed on a slight incline. The engine shoves them ‘over the hump’ and it is his job to handle the brakes.
1934 Amer. Speech 9 73/2 Snake, switchman. His work requires him to crawl around and over cars, and he has a reputation for never hurrying.
1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. xiv. 249 There are terms like..snake-charmers, snakes or lizards, railway platelayers.
c. Australian Military slang. (See quot. 1945.)
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > leader or commander > officer by rank > [noun] > sergeant
sergeant1548
halberd1595
sarge1867
Sgt.1899
Sarn't1930
snake1945
1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. viii. 160 Snakes, a sergeant.
1948 S. L. Elliott in E. Hanger Khaki, Bush & Bigotry (1968) 91 Andy Edwards has been promoted and moved up to the snake pit with you and the other snakes.
1951 E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 314 Baxter reckoned the officers and snakes are pinching our beer.
4. Applied to various things resembling a snake in some respect.† a. A long curl or tail attached to a wig. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > practice of wearing artificial hair > [noun] > artificial hair > section or lock of
sidelock1530
lock1601
tour1674
snake1676
front1693
bull-tour1724
back-head1731
ramillies tail1782
frontlet1785
frisette1818
toupee1862
postiche1867
switch1870
pin-curl1873
scalpette1881
wig-tail1888
chichi1906
hairpiece1939
fall1943
toup1959
1676 J. Dryden in G. Etherege Man of Mode Epil. 96 His Sword-knot, this; his Crevat, this design'd, And this, the yard long Snake he twirls behind.
1735 J. Swift On Five Ladies at Sots-Hole in Wks. II. 379 We who wear our Wigs With Fan-Tail and with Snake.
b. The long flexible tube of a hookah.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > tobacco > smoking > articles or materials used in smoking > [noun] > pipe > water-pipe or hookah > parts of
chillum1781
snake1865
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. A kind of firework burning with a snake-like movement or having a snaky form.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > firework > [noun] > cracker or squib
squib1534
crackera1592
breaker1630
serpent1634
fizgig1647
firecracker1650
petard1668
reporter1688
riprap1709
swarmer1740
mine1769
India cracker1780
throwdown1877
whizz-bang1881
flip-flap1885
snake1891
thunderflash1943
banger1959
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. In various technical uses.
ΚΠ
1947 Britannica Bk. of Year 841/1 Snake, nickname of a device used during an advance to destroy wires and detonate mines.
1957 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 8 Jan. 5/3 A plumber's ‘snake’ has succeeded where a mixed pack of rats and mongooses failed.
1957 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 8 Jan. 5/3 The snakes are thin flexible cables used to clean or carry wires inside pipes.
1961 W. Vaughan-Thomas Anzio ix. 207 The Snake was a 300-foot tube of steel packed with TNT up to about fifty feet from the tank, which first towed the tube into battle and then swung around and pushed it out over a minefield. The crew..exploded the TNT by fire from their machine-guns.
1964 ‘E. McBain’ Ax v. 88 The plumber's snake had caught on one of the cross supports... Hawes reached up and shoved at the snake, coiling it back into the drawer.
e. In miscellaneous transferred senses.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > condition of being long in relation to breadth > linearity > [noun] > a linear object or mark > winding
snake1891
1891 H. R. Haggard Nada the Lily xviii Chaka watched the long black snake of men winding..across the plain.
1894 M. Dyan All in Man's Keeping (1899) iv. 40 The floor was strewn with scraps of torn lace, curling snakes of ribbon.
1896 F. A. Steel On Face of Waters iii. iv. 225 That snake of fire flashing to the powder magazine.
f. Economics. A narrow range of fluctuation in rates of exchange, agreed to by certain member countries of the EEC (see quot. 19731). Hence snake in the tunnel: this range in relation to a wider range of fluctuation agreed in the foreign exchange markets.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > types of money-dealing > [noun] > money-changing > rate of exchange > narrow range of fluctuation in
snake1972
1972 Economist 11 Mar. 87/1 Europe's currencies will try to be held inside the celebrated ‘snake’ wriggling within the overall 4.5 per cent dollar ‘tunnel’.
1972 Accountant 12 Oct. 451/2 It would take over the day-to-day running of the so-called ‘snake in the tunnel’ system of exchange rate margins which Britain opted out of when the £ was floated on June 23rd.
1973 Business Week 10 Mar. 37/3 In March 1972, the six charter members of the EEC and the three nations then awaiting membership agreed to keep their currencies trading within a narrower band against one another than they do in trading against the dollar. When set down on graph paper, the snake is the narrow EEC band and the tunnel the wider dollar band.
1973 Business Week 10 Mar. 37/3 A year-old technique that is dubbed, whimsically enough, the ‘snake in the tunnel’.
1975 Sunday Tel. 11 May 24/4 There may be an agreement on the amount the pound should be devalued..followed by a return to the European currency arrangement (the ‘snake in the tunnel’).
1976 Times 14 Aug. 15/1 Finance ministers from the ‘snake countries’ (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden).
1979 Dædalus Winter 63 But the idea offers an opportunity..of avoiding the pitfalls of previous efforts that had aimed prematurely at stabilizing exchange rates in a European ‘snake’.
1980 T. Barling Goodbye Piccadilly viii. 155 An illuminated wallchart showed the present float of the European Money Snake.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > dice-playing > [noun] > other dice games
rafflec1405
passagec1425
treygobet1426
mumchance1528
trey-trip1564
lots?1577
novum?1577
fox-mine-host1622
in and in1630
merry main1664
snake1688
pass-dice1753
chicken hazard1781
Shaking in the Shallow1795
sequin hazard1825
chuck-a-luck1836
Newmarket1837
chicken1849
poker dice1870
under and over1890
sweat1894
crown and anchor1902
Murrumbidgee1917
beetle1936
liar dice1946
Yahtzee1957
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory (1905) iii. xvi. 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. ? Obsolete.
ΚΠ
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 medieval war-vessel.Used as a rendering of Old English snacc snack n.1 or Old Norse snekkja.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [noun] > small medieval Scandinavian ship
snack1052
snekkja1847
snake1864
1864 G. W. Dasent Jest & Earnest (1873) I. 275 He was left with only twelve snakes or war-galleys.
1880 W. B. Dawkins Early Man in Brit. x. 396 These boats are to be looked upon as the precursors of the long ships, snakes, and sea-dragons.
8. With capital initial. Applied to American Indians of various Shoshone groups, esp. those of Oregon. Frequently attributive, esp. as Snake Indian.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > North American peoples > peoples of Great Basin and Plateau > [noun]
snake1791
Kutenai1801
Pierced Nose1805
Shoshone1805
Tillamook1806
Wallawalla1806
Nez Perce1811
Ute1826
Paiute1827
Spokane1831
Sahaptin1836
flat-head1837
Shuswap1838
Twana1838
Salish1843
Molale1844
Washoe1846
Yakima1852
Skokomish1854
Klamath1890
1791 in Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. (1794) 1st Ser. III. 24 The tribes of Indians..were called..the Blackfeet tribe, the Snake Indians[, etc.].
1805 P. Gass Jrnl. 22 Oct. (1807) xiv. 154 This..is the same river whose head waters we saw at the Snake nation.
1813 Weekly Reg. 4 265/2 They happily fell in with a small party of Snake Indians.
1819 E. Dana Geogr. Sketches Western Country 54 The stature of these natives, of which the Snake tribe is the largest, may generally be considered a size larger than the whites.
1821 J. Fowler Jrnl. 24 Nov. (1898) 55 Last night on Counting them over find now four Hundred of the following nations—Ietans—Arrapohoes—Kiawa Padduce—Cheans—Snakes.
1843 T. Talbot Jrnl. 7 Sept. (1931) 45 The trappers prefer Snake Indians and Snake horses before any race of men or horses in the world.
1844 D. Lee & J. H. Frost Ten Years in Oregon xix. 211 A stone that he had picked up in his journey..in the Snake country.
1848 E. Bryant What I saw in Calif. xi. 152 One of the men called himself a Utah, the other a Soshonee or Snake.
1857 W. Chandless Visit Salt Lake I. vii. 118 These Indians (Snakes I think) were small-sized.
1890 N. P. Langford Vigilante Days xiii. 161 [With] a band of Snakes.., we can run off two thousand of the best of those animals.
1920 S. M. Drumm in J. C. Luttig Jrnl. Expedition Upper Missouri 166 Snake Indians. This tribe was so generally known by this term as to almost obscure the family name of Shoshoni.
1938 M. Thompson High Trails of Glacier National Park 53 The Snake warriors got ready for an attack as soon as the moon should come up.
1940 Places to see in Wyoming p. xxiv/2 Shoshones were also referred to as Snakes or the Snake People.
1977 H. Landar in T. A. Sebeok Native Lang. Americas II. iii. 327 The term Snake, applied to the Northern Paiute of Oregon, is used of other Shoshonean groups as well.
Compounds
C1.
a. Simple attributive.
snake-bite n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > [noun] > wound > stings or bites
stingc900
stinging1398
biting1527
flea-bite1570
flea-biting1598
bite1736
bug bite1739
snip1767
stangc1800
myiasis1839
snake-bite1839
tooth-wound1899
1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 161/1 It is also one of their remedies for snake-bites, but is no doubt inefficacious.
c1880 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 73 She knows as much about snake-bite as any doctor.
snake-broth n.
ΚΠ
1747 tr. J. Astruc Academical Lect. Fevers 81 Viper or snake~broth is also powerfully deobstruent.
snake curry n.
ΚΠ
1885 W. T. Hornaday Two Years in Jungle xxxii. 388 The Dyak proceeded to roast the serpent,..preparatory to making a snake curry.
snake family n.
ΚΠ
c1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. IV. 301 All the species of the Snake family..have minute vestiges of hind limbs.
snake farm n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > zoo > [noun] > reptiliary
serpentry1846
reptiliary1848
ophidiarium1882
snakery1886
reptilarium1892
serpentarium1895
snake farm1934
reptillery1976
1934 Discovery July 207/2 The Pasteur Institute in India, the Snake Institute at Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and the Butantan ‘Snake-farm’ near São Paulo, Brazil, are the headquarters of snake research and cure.
1979 United States 1980–1 (Penguin Travel Guides) 34 Traveling by car you can be flexible—making any number of stops at souvenir shops or snake farms.
snake meal n.
ΚΠ
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 178 A single meal, with many of the snake kind, seems to be the adventure of a season.
snake meat n.
ΚΠ
1976 H. Kemelman Wednesday Rabbi got Wet xxxix. 226 As alien and outlandish as snails or snakemeat or fried termites.
snake-poison n.
ΚΠ
1883 Science 1 260/2 It acted like snake-poison, especially on birds.
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. II. 810 Snake-poison is a clear limpid fluid of a pale straw to yellow colour.
snake-skin n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > leather > [noun] > leather from other specific animals
doeskin1457
buckskin1804
snake-skin1825
antelope1876
crocodile skin1887
lizard1895
prunella1904
seal-grain1906
1825 W. Scott Talisman vii, in Tales Crusaders IV. 142 A straight broadsword, with a handle of boxwood, and a sheath covered with snake-skin.
1880 R. Jefferies Round about Great Estate 87 The snake-skin willow, so called because it sheds its bark.
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 270 Each man..loosened his knife in its snake-skin sheath.
snake slough n.
ΚΠ
1888 G. Meredith Poems (1898) II. 191 The snake-slough sick of the snaky sin.
snake venom n.
ΚΠ
1951 L. E. H. Whitby & M. Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 5) xx. 317 It is possible that other toxins of these soil bacteria are (like the snake-venoms) primarily digestive ferments rather than aggressive mechanisms.
snake worship n.
ΚΠ
1805 R. Southey Madoc Notes 517 Snake worship was common in America.
1883 M. Williams Relig. Thought & Life in India I. xii. 319 Many..believe that snake-worship was the earliest form of religion prevalent among men.
b. Attributive, with terms denoting persons or things connected with the catching, selling, exhibition, or worship of snakes.
(a)
snake-boy n.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > sellers of specific things > [noun] > sellers of other specific things
soaper?c1225
oilman1275
smear-monger1297
upholder1333
basket-seller?1518
broom-seller?1518
upholster1554
rod-woman1602
starchwoman1604
pin manc1680
colour seller1685
potato-woman1697
printseller1700
rag-seller1700
Greenwich barber1785
sandboy1821
iceman1834
umbrella man1851
fly-boy1861
snuff-boxera1871
pedlar1872
snake-boy1873
bric-a-brac man1876
tinwoman1884
resurrectionist1888
butch1891
paanwallah1955
1873 C. G. Leland Egyptian Sketch-bk. 60 I did quite a business with that snake-boy, for I was interested in the study of his ware.
snake cult n.
ΚΠ
1958 C. Achebe Things fall Apart xxi. 159 His father was the priest of the snake cult.
snake cultist n.
ΚΠ
1965 R. Morris & D. Morris Men & Snakes iii. 67 It has been argued that the Egyptian contingent of the Jews in the Exodus may have been snake cultists and Moses himself a kind of snake shaman.
snake-man n.
ΚΠ
1836 J. C. Maitland Lett. from Madras (1843) 36 Eight cobras and three other snakes.., and the snake-men singing and playing..to them.
snake-player n.
ΚΠ
1859 J. G. Wilkinson in Rawlinson Herodotus III. 151 (note) The snake-players of the coast of Barbary.
snake priest n.
ΚΠ
1900 Outing June 305/2 Then, like a flash, the Snake priests dart upon them grabbing in their hands all they can pick up.
1958 C. Achebe Things fall Apart xxii. 165 One of them was Enoch, the son of the snake-priest who was believed to have killed and eaten the sacred python.
(b)
snake-ceremony n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > observance, ritual > kinds of rite > involving snakes > [noun]
snake-ceremony1959
1959 E. Tunis Indians ix. 128/1 Nearly all of the rituals had the same purpose: to cajole rain from the gods. The famous Snake Ceremony had that object.
snake-staff n.
ΚΠ
1889 Cent. Mag. Aug. 507 The snake-staff is used to handle snakes.
snake-temple n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > sanctuary or holy place > temple > [noun] > for snake worship
snake-temple1891
1891 Miss Gordon-Cumming Two Years Ceylon (1892) I. v. 127 There was a very ancient snake-temple..near Jaffna.
c. Appositive, as snake-girdle, snake-god, snake-idol, snake-king, snake-lock, etc.
ΚΠ
1606 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iv. 66 A Mantle..round about him ty'd With a Snake-girdle byting off her tayl.
1805 R. Southey Madoc ii. vi. 237 A temple..Where the Snake-Idol stood.
1805 R. Southey Madoc ii. vii. (heading) The Snake God.
1863 W. K. Kelly Curiosities Indo-European Trad. i. 9 The bird, beast, and snake-gods.
1866 J. Conington tr. Virgil Æneid vi. 185 Her [Discord's] snake-locks hiss.
1871 H. Alabaster Wheel of Law 136 If a snake-king he will sink into the earth.
1901 Athenæum 13 Apr. 475/2 The influence of the snake-woman, gorgeous in beauty and irresistible in allurement.
1925 A. Evans Ring of Nestor 15 Besides the well-known Snake Goddess of the Temple Repository at Knossos, a series of other figures have now come to light showing this attribute.
1965 R. Morris & D. Morris Men & Snakes ii. 28 The snake god Danh-gbi of Whydah, Dahomey.
1965 R. Morris & D. Morris Men & Snakes ii. 49 A similar snake monster, Typhon, who in Greek mythology merges with Typhoeus, was said to be the cause of earthquakes as well as many springs.
1979 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts July 511/2 But in this region they also make paper caskets on bamboo frames which are used in festivals, especially for that of the snake-goddess, Bishahari.
d. Used to designate things having the form of a snake.
(a)
snake-arrow n.
ΚΠ
1895 A. C. Haddon Evol. Art 25 A snake-arrow which has lost all trace of its saurian ancestry.
snake-bow n.
ΚΠ
c1660 A. Wood Life (1891) I. 300 Lac'd bands and tassell or snake-bow band-strings.
snake bracelet n.
ΚΠ
1968 New Larousse Encycl. Mythol. (ed. 2) 484/1 (caption) Snake bracelet from Dahomey.
1979 F. Morton Nervous Splendour (1980) ix. 89 He had long wanted to give Martha a gold snake bracelet, a status symbol.
snake buckle n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > parts of clothing > [noun] > fastenings > clasp or buckle > types of
fermilletc1475
fermail1480
agraffec1660
stone-buckle1748
waist-buckle1805
aggrape1846
snake bucklea1882
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > belt or sash > parts of
ceintec1386
mordantc1400
pendantc1400
netsuke1876
snake bucklea1882
a1882 H. Kendall in Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads (1964) 92 A hero..With a jumper and snake-buckle belt on.
1971 P. D. James Shroud for Nightingale iv. 123 A schoolboy's belt..clasped with a snake buckle.
1978 M. Dickens Open Bk. i. 6 Dining room lunch meant putting on a dress instead of the boy's shirt and flannel shorts and snake-buckle belt we wore at Chilworthy.
snake hook n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > clutching or gripping equipment > [noun] > hook
hookc900
haspedec1400
cleek1426
cleek-staffc1440
cramp1503
hock1530
gib-crook1564
cramp-iron1565
gib1567
cramper1598
bench hook1619
crampon1660
wall-hook1681
dressing hook1683
woodcock-eye1796
doghook1821
click1846
clipper1849
ice hook1853
witchetty1862
slip-hook1863
snap-hook1875
clip-hook1882
pelican1890
snake hook1944
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [adjective] > other
cod-pieced1579
pectoral1616
peasecod-bellied1650
wrapping1787
tunical1805
shad-bellied1832
odalisque1837
peplum1866
pubic1892
sack-back1892
middy1894
sarong1913
hip-hugger1932
bloused1935
snake hook1944
1944 E. Blunden Cricket Country xi. 122 Wearing a revolver holster on a snake-hook belt.
snake-knot n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > ornamental art and craft > pattern or design > [noun] > interlaced
fretc1385
friar knots1488
chainwork1551
knot1638
Gordian knotc1660
meander1706
entrelac1723
triquetra1845
knotwork1851
strapwork1854
Celtic knot1865
snake-knot1866
aligreek1867
plaitwork1871
honeycomb work1874
strap-ornament1895
honeycomb1924
1866 G. Stephens Old-Northern Runic Monuments I. i. 327 The intertwining arabesques have everywhere a tendency to the regular Snake-knot.
snake mark n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > marking > a mark > trace or vestige > [noun] > other traces or vestiges
staddle1691
Indian sign1805
geological record1811
powder mark1823
earmark1836
rock record1851
tool-mark1865
staddle-stead1868
staddle-mark1876
waterline1876
posthole1888
tooth-mark1889
pollen count1926
snake mark1929
parch mark1947
tranchet blow1949
posthole pattern1950
posthole evidence1962
1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 39 In the odd pattern, like snake~marks on the sand It leaves its trail.
1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 16 Two large [kangaroo] does..came in,..their tails dragging long snake marks in the dust.
snake mask n.
ΚΠ
1965 R. Morris & D. Morris Men & Snakes ii. 41 A snake mask set with turquoises, the emblems of the god [sc. Quetzalcoatl].
snake neck n.
ΚΠ
1865 C. Kingsley Hereward ii, in Good Words Jan. 82/2 His long snake neck and cruel visage wreathed about in search of prey.
c1880 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.
snake ring n.
ΚΠ
1625 in R. Sanderson 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.
(b)
snake-spiral adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > coil > [adjective] > disposed in or forming (a) coil(s)
twinedc1300
wounda1382
wreathenc1400
wrinkledc1403
wreathedc1425
whorlish1562
folded1570
writhen1584
upwound1590
entortilled1629
coiled1661
whirled1715
whirl-shaped1762
crinkum-crankum1766
convoluted1811
gyrated1822
rounded1845
vorticiform1849
looped1850
vorticose1870
convolute1874
gyrate1876
swirled1909
snake-spiral1922
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvii. [Ithaca] 683 The snakespiral springs of the mattress being old.
C2. Objective and objective genitive.
a.
snake-bearer n.
ΚΠ
1610 J. Healey tr. J. L. Vives in tr. St. Augustine Citie of God x. xvi. 383 Æsculapius was..called..the Snake-bearer.
snake-catcher n.
ΚΠ
a1861 T. Twining Trav. India (1893) 164 The exhibition of the snake-catchers near Benares.
c1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. IV. 306 The Cobras are the favourites of the snake-catchers.
snake-charmer n.
ΚΠ
1836 J. C. Maitland Lett. from Madras (1843) 36 Those snake-charmers are most wonderful.
1863 ‘S. L. Jones’ Life in South I. vii. 93 The cat-bird, or snake-charmer.
1891 Miss Gordon-Cumming Two Years Ceylon (1892) I. v. 129 Professional snake-charmers, who go about with a basket full of these wriggling reptiles for exhibition.
snake-eater n.
ΚΠ
1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 113 Hoactzin,..the Snake-eater of America.
1772 Philos. Trans. 1771 (Royal Soc.) 61 56 This bird [the secretary~bird] was called a snake-eater, by those who brought it from India.
1829 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom VI. 68 The Snake-Eater, or Secretary (Serpentarius).
1872 Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. 393/1 Such a creature as a snake-eater is man's best friend.
snake-worshipper n.
ΚΠ
1880 G. C. M. Birdwood Industr. Arts India 83 The Nagas are a mythical type of the Scythic race of snake-worshippers.
b.
snake-charming n. and adj.
ΚΠ
1897 ‘M. Twain’ Following Equator xlii. 388 The girls went through a performance which represented snake-charming.
1978 Amer. Poetry Rev. Nov. 25 Adam and eve because they had a snakecharming act.
snake-handling n.
ΚΠ
1940 Sci. News Let. 17 Aug. 103/2 Snake-handling religious cultists of Georgia are ‘all of a piece’ with followers of other cults who go to unusual lengths to show their faith or their access to supernatural powers. The same thing, with or without snake-handling, has been seen in various cultures and various times.
1973 R. L. Fox Alexander the Great iii. 45 Snake-handling is a known practice in the wilder sorts of Greek religion.
snake-killing adj.
ΚΠ
1895 J. G. Millais Breath from Veldt ii. 20 As for his snake-killing exploits, I think he is a bit of a fraud.
c.
snake-bearing adj.
ΚΠ
1927 D. H. Lawrence Mornings in Mexico 162 The shoulders of the young, snake-bearing men.
snake-devouring adj.
ΚΠ
1621 F. Quarles Hadassa vii Enuie did ope her Snake-deuouring Iawes.
1835 J. Duncan Nat. Hist. Beetles (Naturalist's Libr.: Entomol. II) 189 If it enjoyed an inferior degree of veneration to the snake-devouring Ibis [etc.].
snake-eating adj.
ΚΠ
c1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. IV. 307 A snake-eating Snake.
1887 H. W. Daly Digging, Squatting, & Pioneering Life S. Austral. 94 The reptile known as the Ophiophagus elaps or snake-eating cobra.
snake-handling n.
ΚΠ
1902 Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 81/1 Readers of that delightful novel, The World went very well Then, will remember Mr Brinjes of the fiery eye and the snake-stick, who made every negro do his bidding.
1974 H. MacInnes Climb to Lost World vi. 97 We were all hypersensitive about the possibility of being stung or bitten, and kept our snake sticks handy.
C3. With past participles or (participial) adjectives, forming parasynthetic, similative, or instrumental combinations.Frequently in allusion to the snake-like hair of the Furies.† snake-wanded adj. Obsolete
snake-bodied adj.
ΚΠ
1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 47/2 Snake~bodied Batrachians.
snake-bred adj.
ΚΠ
1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. xvii. 310 This Deuill.., whom he calleth ὀϕιογενῆ or ὀϕιόνεον, that is to say, Snakebread or Adderbread.
snake-drawn adj.
ΚΠ
1876 A. S. Murray Mythol. (1877) iii. 42 [Demeter] giving..to his son, Triptolemos, the seed of barley and her snake-drawn car.
snake-encircled adj.
ΚΠ
1765 O. Goldsmith New Simile 32 His hand Fill'd with a snake-encircled wand.
1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets vii. 227 Hound not Those blood-faced, snake-encircled women on me.
snake-engirdled adj.
ΚΠ
1866 J. B. Rose tr. Ovid Metamorphoses 111 Tisiphone..snake-engirdled issued forth in air.
snake-eyed adj.
ΚΠ
1895 R. Lydekker Royal Nat. Hist. V. 168 Snake-eyed..lizards differ from all their kin in having no movable eyelids.
snake-green adj.
ΚΠ
1948 C. S. Lewis in Punch 23 June 543/2 Sea-chances brought To her forest-silent And crimson-fruited And snake-green island Her guests unsought.
snake-haired adj.
ΚΠ
1625 T. May tr. J. Barclay in K. Long tr. J. Barclay Argenis v. i. 330 From the barre, The Snake-hayr'd Sisters dragge the Prisoner.
1634 T. Carew Cœlum Britanicum 9 Thus I charme..The Snake-heard Gorgon, and fierce Sagittar.
1921 W. de la Mare Veil & Other Poems 59 Snake-haired, snow-shouldered, pure as flame and dew,..Rises the Goddess.
snake-headed adj.
ΚΠ
1856 F. L. Olmsted Journey 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.
snake-locked adj.
ΚΠ
1954 G. Barker Vision of Beasts & Gods 39 The snake-locked image of dream Hanging ahead.
snake-necked adj.
ΚΠ
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. i. 3 They are a square-headed and snake-necked generation.
c1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. IV. 255 The Snake-necked Tortoises of Monte Video, Buenos Ayres, and Southern Brazil.
snake-tailed adj.
ΚΠ
1946 R. Graves Poems 1938–45 32 By noting that the snake-tailed chthonian winds Were answerable to fate alone, not Zeus.
snake-tressed adj.
ΚΠ
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 335 Come snake-trest Sisters, come ye dismall Elues.
1894 O. Wilde Sphinx 28 What snaketressed fury fresh from Hell.
ΚΠ
1606 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iii. 69 Smighting the Waves with his Snake-wanded wood.
snake-wigged adj.
ΚΠ
1682 N. O. tr. N. Boileau-Despréaux Lutrin i. 85 A corner'd Cap her Snake-wigg'd Head did cover.
C4.
a. Special combinations:† snake-button n. Obsolete a snake-stone, adder-stone.† snake-foot adj. [rendering Latin anguipes] Obsolete snake-footed, as a poetic epithet of giants.† snake-proof adj. Obsolete proof against snakes; in quot. 1609 figurative.
snake-bit adj. (also snake-bitten) (a) bitten by a snake; (b) U.S. irremediably doomed to misfortune.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > [adjective] > wounded > stung or bitten
stunga1325
stangeda1400
worried1559
stinged1565
bitten1623
gad-stricken1658
snake-bit1807
the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [adjective] > doomed to misfortune
fatal1509
ill-starreda1616
foredoomed1700
ill-fated1713
weirdless1821
ill-bestarreda1834
snake-bit1942
the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > [adjective] > fated to disaster
fatal1509
ill-fated1713
fated1817
snake-bit1957
1807 P. Gass Jrnls. 20 One of our people got snake bitten but not dangerously.
1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling xiv. 149 He sobbed, ‘Pa—He's snake-bit.’
1942 W. Faulkner Go down, Moses & Other Stories 111 Ah'm snakebit and de pizen cant hawm me.
1957 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 18 Nov. 14/1 It was another long afternoon Saturday at Scott Stadium for Coach Ben Martin, his assistants and his ‘snake-bitten’ football players as they fell before South Carolina, 13–0.
1957 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 18 Nov. 14/1 Commenting on the game last Saturday afternoon Martin said: ‘We're just snake-bit that's all there is to it.’ Snake-bit is a term used by coaches when referring to a team which never seems to have a break in its favor.
1965 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 10 June (1970) 283 From the first moment of the day we were ‘snake-bit’—everything went wrong.
1976 Columbus (Montana) News 17 June (Joliet Suppl.) 2/3 We managed to get back to the house, not snake-bitten and not smelling too much like a skunk.
snake-boat n. a form of canoe used in the East (see quot. 1882).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > vessels of primitive construction > [noun] > canoe of indigenous peoples > other types of canoe
pirogue1666
dory1709
Montreal canoe1793
waka1807
tandem canoe1867
Rob Roy1868
canot du maître1872
Peterborough1882
snake-boat1882
shadow canoe1883
tandem1884
buckeye1885
Canader1893
vinta1900
bellum1901
spoon canoe1907
sponson canoe1911
ratting canoe1944
tarada1960
canot du nord1961
1882 C. Annandale Imperial Dict. (new ed.) 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.
snake boot n. North American a boot with a high ankle worn for protection against snake-bites, or a fashion boot resembling this.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boot > [noun] > for specific purpose > for protection
mosquito boot1774
rain boot1888
snake boot1965
1965 Punch 19 May 755/1 Palm memory of the agreeable feel of the two-in-hand will come back, and if snakeboots replace kinkies, the thrill of the double slalom round the sprigs above the eyeletholes.
1972 R. Reid Canadian Style (1973) iv. 144 ‘Say, what is, or are, galoshes?’ ‘Like rubber snake boots, but they buckle or zip up the front.’
snake-box n. (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.).
ΚΠ
1886 P. Robinson Valley Teetotum Trees 92 Very much like the showman's snake-box in which each reptile had swallowed the one next to it in size.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > stone > a stone > [noun] > perforated
snake-button1699
snake-stone1700
1699 E. Lhuyd Let. 17 Dec. in Philos. Trans. 1713 (Royal Soc.) (1714) 28 98 The Snake-button is the same described..in Camden, by the Name of Adder~beads.
snake charmer n. Australian slang (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > builder > [noun] > builders or maintainers of railways
surfaceman1845
snake1929
snake charmer1937
1937 A. Upfield Mr. Jelly's Business 16 ‘And what are the Snake Charmers?’ ‘They are the permanent-way men.’
1969 P. A. Smith Folklore Austral. Railwaymen 279 Fettlers are invariably referred to as ‘snake charmers’.
snake-doctor n. one who cures snake-bites.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > healer > specialist > [noun] > in other fields
searcher1597
snake-doctor1800
resuscitator1810
hydrophobist1855
narcologist1878
phthisiotherapeutist1899
phthisiotherapist1907
pulmonologist1912
chemotherapist1925
oncologist1925
allergist1928
cancerologist1935
physiatrist1946
orthotist1951
neuropharmacologist1957
1800 W. Boag in Asiatick Researches 6 112 A specimen was brought me by a snake doctor.
snake eyes n. (a) U.S. slang, tapioca; (b) North American slang, a throw of two ones with a pair of dice; also figurative, bad luck.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [noun] > misfortune or ill-luck
un-i-limpOE
unlimpc1175
mishap?c1225
unhap?c1225
mishappeningc1230
ames-ace?a1300
misadventure?a1300
ill hailc1300
misauntera1325
untiminga1325
miscasec1325
mischancec1325
misfall1340
misfarea1387
casec1390
infortunea1393
mishapping?a1400
unchancea1400
disadventurea1413
mischieving1432
infortuny?a1439
encumbermentc1440
misfortune1441
evil hail?c1450
malfortunea1470
unhappiness1470
maleurtee?1473
malheur?1473
evil health1477
unfortune1483
wanfortunea1500
disfortune1509
wanhap1513
ill, evil ch(i)eving?1518
mislucka1530
ill luck1548
unfortunacy?c1550
evilfare1556
unluck1556
hard luck1567
bad luck1575
miscasualty1588
disgrace1590
wanchance1599
disventure1612
misaccident1620
miscarriagec1625
hard lines1722
mishanter1754
malefit1755
miscanter1781
hard cheese1854
hard cheddar1893
schlimazel1911
tough luck1912
snake eyes1918
catch-arse1970
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > puddings > [noun] > sago or tapioca
sago-pudding1743
sago1769
sago milk1827
tapioca1837
semolina pudding1904
snake eyes1918
frogspawn1949
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > dice-playing > [noun] > throw > doublets or triplets
ames-ace?a1300
ternsa1400
doubletc1450
sinesc1450
in and in1633
pair royal1656
duplet1671
loader1693
snake eyes1918
1918 L. E. Ruggles Navy Explained 20 Tapioca is ‘snake eyes’.
1929 M. A. Gill Underworld Slang 11/2 Snake eyes, aces up on the dice.
1935 Jrnl. Abnormal Psychol. 30 364 Snake eyes, tapioca.
1964 A. Wykes Gambling vi. 134 Modern craps players use..slang for various combinations of two dice: ‘snake eyes’ for Two, [etc.].
1972 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 30 July 12/3 But this time Baychimo's annual throw of the dice came up ‘snake-eyes’, and the ice closed about trapping her forever.
1978 R. Moore Big Paddle iv. 88 Cliff..let the dice go... He didn't have to look to know they'd come up snake eyes.
1978 G. Vidal Kalki vi. 138 It's like throwing dice. Let's just hope it won't be snake eyes for Jim Kelly.
ΚΠ
1598 G. Chapman in C. Marlowe & G. Chapman Hero & Leander (new ed.) vi. sig. M4 To snake-foote Boreas next she did remoue.
snake-headed adj. slang (see quot. 1941).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > ill-naturedness > sourness or bitterness of temper > [adjective]
bitter?c1225
sour?c1225
envenomedc1375
envenomousa1420
crabbed1565
gallish1595
verjuice1598
vinegar-tart1599
soury1647
acrid1681
acrious1682
sourish1688
embittered1694
subacid1760
verjuiced1836
acidulent1837
vinaigrous1837
vinegar1847
vinegary1847
soured1848
acerbic1853
acidulous1865
acerbate1869
acerbitous1870
snake-headed1920
sour-pussed1952
1920 B. Cronin Timber Wolves viii. 137 Anyhow, they's no need to get snake-headed about it.
1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 68 Snake~headed, angry, vindictive.
snake-hip n. attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > dancer generally > [adjective]
danceable1859
snake-hip1932
a-go-go1964
go-go1964
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > trunk > side > [adjective] > hip > types of
hopper-hipped1672
hoppered1704
haunchy1831
hippy1854
lizard-hipped1922
snake-hip1932
1932 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 20 Apr. 4/3 There is a distinct class clash between the Harlem intelligentsia and snake-hip dancers and chanters of hot-cha-cha and skiddle-de-scow in the black and tan auberges.
snake hips n. (a) very narrow hips; (b) the name of a popular dance (see quot. 1970).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > other popular 20th-century dances > [noun]
mashed potato1747
bunny hug1912
chicken scratch1912
bunny-hugging1916
jazz1919
black bottom1925
shuffle1925
Mess Around1926
snake hips1933
Susie-Q1936
Lambeth Walk1937
bunny hop1938
bop1956
pony1961
Watusi1961
locomotion1962
mash potato1962
frug1964
hully gully1964
dancercise1967
pogo1977
moonwalking1980
slam dance1981
slam dancing1981
body-popping1982
b-boying1984
mosh1985
moshing1987
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > trunk > side > [noun] > hip > types of
snake hips1933
1933 Fortune Aug. 48/1 Dancers like the gelatinous ‘Snake Hips’ Tucker.
1956 G. P. Kurath in A. F. C. Wallace Men & Cultures (1960) 153 Restraints were shaken off..in an epidemic of angular, foot-twisting gyrations—the Charleston, Snake Hips, Susie-Q, and Truckin'.
1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 106 Snake hips, a Baltimore- and New York-oriented jazz dance.
1977 N. Slater Crossfire iii. 62 The fellows..all seem to have snake-hips, painfully tight trousers and platform shoes.
1977 Melody Maker 26 Mar. 43/2 The biggest sensation of all..was the ‘snake-hip’ dancer, Bessie Dudley, waggling her bottom, clad in black satin knickers.
snake juice n. slang (chiefly Australian) whisky; also loosely, any alcoholic drink.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > whisky > [noun]
usquebaugh1581
creature1638
corn-brandy1704
whisky1715
usque1728
spunkiea1796
skreigh1813
the stuff1828
snake poison1842
tanglefoot1860
whisky-straight1864
oil1869
Auld Kirk1884
snake juice1890
screech1902
scat1914
pinch bottle1916
screecham1923
juice1932
malt1967
1890 Pall Mall Gaz. 3 Sept. 3/2 This whisky, or snake juice, as bushmen often call the hell-broth prepared for them.
1904 E. S. Emerson Shanty Entertainm. 70 Then he started them on snake-juice, known as Boot and Blacking Rum.
1965 M. McIntyre Place of Quiet Waters xii. 224 I wonder if that snake juice is fit to drink.
1973 R. Robinson Drift of Things 290 Broke into Eric's hut, threw the ‘pickled’ specimens out of the jars, and drank the methylated spirits. That must have been the real ‘Snake-Juice’.
snake-line n. (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2229/1 Snake-line,..line used in worming a rope.
snake-piece n. (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Snake-pieces,..stout props, placed obliquely to the timbers of whalers, to sustain the shock of icebergs.
snake-pill n. a pill used as a remedy for snakebite.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > antidote > [noun] > antidotes to snake-bite > pill
snake-pill1801
1801 Asiatic Ann. Reg. 1800 Suppl. Chron. 125/1 So much I can say for the arsenic snake pills, the only other remedy recommended.
snake poison n. U.S. and Australian slang whisky.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > whisky > [noun]
usquebaugh1581
creature1638
corn-brandy1704
whisky1715
usque1728
spunkiea1796
skreigh1813
the stuff1828
snake poison1842
tanglefoot1860
whisky-straight1864
oil1869
Auld Kirk1884
snake juice1890
screech1902
scat1914
pinch bottle1916
screecham1923
juice1932
malt1967
1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 152/2 Strychnos colubrina, Snake-wood, or Snake-poison Nut, is a climbing plant with simple tendrils.
1874 (title) Report on the Effects of Artificial Respiration..in Indian and Australian Snake-Poisoning.
1890 L. C. D'Oyle Notches Rough Edge Life 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.
1947 K. Tennant Lost Haven iv. 66 If Bee-Bonnet ever again wants me to sample his snake poison, I'll pour it on him and set it alight.
1965 R. Morris & D. Morris Men & Snakes v. 106 Normally death by snake-poisoning is a prolonged and unpleasant business.
snake-pole v. U.S. transitive to maul viciously.
ΚΠ
1838 B. Drake Tales 92 Many were trampled under foot, some gouged, others horribly snake-poled, and not a few knocked clear into a cocked hat.
1850 Congr. Globe 19 Feb. 182/1 What would your people do with such an orator? They would snake-poll him out of the district and set the dogs on him!
ΚΠ
1609 T. Dekker Guls Horne-bk. sig. B1v I am Snake-proofe: and..it is impossible for you to quench..my Alpine-resolution.
snake rail fence n. North American = snake-fence n.
ΚΠ
1889 B. Harte Cressy ii. 38 Mr. McKinstry's ‘snake rail’ fence was already discernible in the lighter opening of the woods.
1958 H. Symons Fences 48 One of the early Canadian fences most popular in the east was the snake rail fence.
snake room n. Canadian (see quot. 1912).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > drinking place > [noun] > tavern or public house > basement room for drunks
snake room1912
1912 J. Sandilands Western Canad. Dict. & Phrase-bk. 42/1 Snake-room , a side room of a basement where saloon-keepers accommodate doped or drunken people until they recover their senses, presumably a place where they ‘see snakes’.
1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 29 Oct. 15/2 ‘Tommy’ was one of a bunch who were swapping stories recently in the snake room.
1975 F. Kennedy Alberta was my Beat vi. 73 All adjourned to the ‘snake room’ in the basement.
snake-spit n. dialect (see quot. 1823).
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the world > life > biology > substance > [noun] > found on leaves, rocks, etc.
snake-spit1823
meteoric paper1841
1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words 369 Snake-spit, small masses of delicately white frothy matter, seen on leaves of weeds or wild flowers..; popularly believed to be the saliva of snakes.
1879 Folk-lore Rec. 2 81 The..snake's-spit, or wood~sear of England and Scotland,..is a froth discharged by the young froghoppers.
snake story n. an incredible tale about a snake, esp. in regard to its great length or size.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > a false or foolish tale > [noun] > of an exaggerated kind
a tale (also gest, song, etc.) of Robin Hoodc1400
tale of a tub1532
Canterbury tale or story?a1550
romanza1622
romance1638
onea1642
Robin Hood tale1653
cock-and-bull story1670
stretcher1674
whid1794
fish-story1819
snake story1826
screamer1831
twister1834
ráiméis1835
Munchausen1840
skyscraper1840
Munchausenism1848
cock1851
snake yarn1891
furphy1916
fanny1930
the old ackamarackus1933
windy1933
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > types of narrative or story generally > [noun] > story with specific subject
human story1753
family history1780
snake story1826
birth story1837
creation story1860
nostos1910
success story1925
microhistory1969
plutography1985
1826 Virginia Herald (Fredericksburg, Va.) 6 Sept. 3/2 The New-York Spectator will probably class this with the Snake stories of the day.
1840 Southern Lit. Messenger 6 381/1 I can't believe that story, and to tell the truth, stranger, I don't believe your snake story either.
1867 Harper's Mag. Aug. 281/3 We told snake and fish stories.
1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds ix. 133 ‘Snake-stories’ were abundant.
1885 W. T. Hornaday Two Years in Jungle xxvii. 331 All the big snake stories I had heard.
snake yarn n. = snake story n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > a false or foolish tale > [noun] > of an exaggerated kind
a tale (also gest, song, etc.) of Robin Hoodc1400
tale of a tub1532
Canterbury tale or story?a1550
romanza1622
romance1638
onea1642
Robin Hood tale1653
cock-and-bull story1670
stretcher1674
whid1794
fish-story1819
snake story1826
screamer1831
twister1834
ráiméis1835
Munchausen1840
skyscraper1840
Munchausenism1848
cock1851
snake yarn1891
furphy1916
fanny1930
the old ackamarackus1933
windy1933
1891 E. Kinglake Austral. at Home 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 combinations of this type are given in recent American dictionaries, as snake-blenny, snake-hag (= lizard), snake-mackerel, etc.
snake bait n.
ΚΠ
1880–4 F. Day Fishes Great Brit. & Ireland I. 330 Snedden... At St. Ives the fishermen term the adult snake-bait, and the young naked~bait.
snake buzzard n.
ΚΠ
1869–73 Cassell's Bk. Birds II. 49 About noon the Snake Buzzard [Circaëtus gallicus] appears upon the river banks.
snake crane n.
ΚΠ
1869–73 Cassell's Bk. Birds IV. 91 The Snake Cranes (Dicholophus) constitute a group of remarkable birds.
snake doctor n. U.S. = dragonfly n. or hellgrammite n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > bait > worms and grubs
angletwitcheOE
wormc1320
codwormc1450
redwormc1450
gentle1577
touchangle1581
bob1589
Jack1601
dug1608
codbait1620
caddis-worm1627
caddis1653
cockspur1653
lob-worm1653
marsh worm1653
gilt tail1656
cadew1668
cad1674
ash-grub1676
clap-bait1681
whitebait1681
earth-bob1696
jag-tail1736
buzz1760
treachet1787
angleworm1788
cow-turd-bob1798
palmer bob1814
slob1814
angledog1832
caddis-bait1833
sedge-worm1839
snake feeder1861
hellgrammite1866
easworm1872
cow-dung bob1880
snake doctora1883
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > division Endopterygota or Metabola (winged) > [noun] > order Neuroptera > suborder Megaloptera > family Libellulidae
snake feeder1861
snake doctora1883
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > division Endopterygota or Metabola (winged) > [noun] > order Neuroptera > suborder Megaloptera > family Corydalidae > larva of corydalus cornutus or snake feeder
snake feeder1861
hellgrammite1866
snake doctora1883
go-devil1888
hell-devil1889
a1883 G. W. Bagby Old Virginia Gentleman (1910) 92 [The water is] full of all manner of nasty and confounded ‘mud-kittens’, ‘snap'n turtles’, and snake doctors.
1948 Field & Stream July 42/2 Various stages of the dobson are known as..flip-flaps, snake doctors.
1978 Amer. Speech 53 201 The flora and fauna terms include..snake feeder (listed as the common name for the dragon~fly, snake doctor being listed as ‘slightly known’).
snake eel n.
ΚΠ
1803 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. IV. i. 23 Snake Eel. Anguilla Serpens.
1871 W. S. Dallas Carpenter's Zool. (rev. ed.) II. 75 The Ophisurus, or Snake Eel (so called from its strong resemblance to a serpent) of the Mediterranean.
snake feeder n. U.S. = snake doctor n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > bait > worms and grubs
angletwitcheOE
wormc1320
codwormc1450
redwormc1450
gentle1577
touchangle1581
bob1589
Jack1601
dug1608
codbait1620
caddis-worm1627
caddis1653
cockspur1653
lob-worm1653
marsh worm1653
gilt tail1656
cadew1668
cad1674
ash-grub1676
clap-bait1681
whitebait1681
earth-bob1696
jag-tail1736
buzz1760
treachet1787
angleworm1788
cow-turd-bob1798
palmer bob1814
slob1814
angledog1832
caddis-bait1833
sedge-worm1839
snake feeder1861
hellgrammite1866
easworm1872
cow-dung bob1880
snake doctora1883
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > division Endopterygota or Metabola (winged) > [noun] > order Neuroptera > suborder Megaloptera > family Libellulidae
snake feeder1861
snake doctora1883
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > division Endopterygota or Metabola (winged) > [noun] > order Neuroptera > suborder Megaloptera > family Corydalidae > larva of corydalus cornutus or snake feeder
snake feeder1861
hellgrammite1866
snake doctora1883
go-devil1888
hell-devil1889
1861 Trans. Illinois State Agric. Soc. 1859–60 4 341 A particular species of dragon-fly, or snake-feeder, as it is absurdly called in this country.
1904 G. S. Porter Freckles xiv. 289 He shifted restlessly, and the movement sent the snake~feeders skimming.
1949 H. Kurath Word Geogr. Eastern U.S. 14/1 The line of demarkation over against the Midland snake feeder is remarkably clear and sharp.
snake fly n.
ΚΠ
1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 42 Serpentisuga,..the Snake-fly.
1817 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (1818) II. xxiii. 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 (Raphidiæ) form a small genus.
snake hawk n.
ΚΠ
1781 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds I. i. 61 Swallow-tailed Falcon..inhabits Carolina in the summer months; where it is called Snake-hawk.
1863 W. H. Russell My Diary North & South I. 216 The young gentleman was good enough to bring over a snake hawk he had shot for me.
snake horse n.
ΚΠ
1816 M. Keating Trav. (1817) I. 344 They have a remarkably swift..race of horses, which, from the lankness of their bodies,..are called snake-horses.
snake killer n.
ΚΠ
1872 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds 189 Geococcyx,..Road Runner. Snake Killer.
snake kite n.
ΚΠ
1902 P. Fountain Great Mountains & Forests S. Amer. iv. 89 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.
snake lizard n.
ΚΠ
1802 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. III. i. 305 Snake-Lizards, with extremely long bodies, and short legs.
1866 W. S. Dallas Carpenter's Zool. (rev. ed.) I. 564 The Four-toed Saurophis, or Snake-Lizard, which is a native of the southern part of Africa.
snake maid n.
ΚΠ
1863 ‘S. L. Jones’ Life in South I. vi. 87 That's a snake maid [= dragon-fly].
snake millipede n.
ΚΠ
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 tr. Bos Agric. Zool. (ed. 2) 195 The Snake Millipedes..or ‘False Wireworms’.
snake pipe n.
ΚΠ
1713 J. Petiver Aquatilium Animalium Amboinæ Tab. 16/32 Solen Anguinus,..Snake pipes.
snake pipe-fish n.
ΚΠ
1804 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. V. ii. 453 Snake Pipefish,..Syngnathus Ophidion.
1880–4 F. Day Fishes Great Brit. & Ireland II. 261 Ocean pipe-fish and snake pipe-fish.
snake rat n.
ΚΠ
1868 C. Darwin Variation Animals & Plants II. xv. 87 Some snake~rats (Mus alexandrinus) escaped in the Zoological Gardens.
snake shell n.
ΚΠ
1713 J. Petiver Aquatilium Animalium Amboinæ Tab. xii Serpentulus,..Snake-shell.
snake tortoise n.
ΚΠ
1802 G. 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 dictionaries.† snakewort n. Obsolete
snake cactus n.
ΚΠ
1846–50 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 275 Cereus flagelliformis,..Snake Cactus.
snake cane n.
ΚΠ
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 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.
snake cucumber n.
ΚΠ
1882 Garden 1 Apr. 219/3 Packets of seed of various plants, including Water Melons and Snake Cucumbers.
snake flower n.
ΚΠ
1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 170 The fritillaries, the chequered red or pale ‘snake-flowers’, are grass-lovers.
snake gourd n.
ΚΠ
1823 G. Crabb Universal Technol. Dict. ii. s.v. Snake~gourd.
1857 A. Henfrey Elem. Course Bot. §479 The Snake-gourd, Trichosanthes anguina, is eaten in India.
1900 Cycl. Amer. Hort.: E–M 874/2 The long curved forms [of Lagenaria vulgaris] are often called snake gourds in this country.
snake grass n.
ΚΠ
1883 A. K. Green Hand & Ring i The ground is marshy and covered with snake grass.
snake-locked anemone n. = opelet n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > class Anthozoa Actinozoa > order Zoantharia > suborder Actiniaria > member of > anemonia sulcata
snake-locked anemone1853
opelet1860
1853 P. H. Gosse Naturalist's Rambles Devon. Coast iv. 96 The Snake-locked Anemone..is by no means common.
1928 F. S. Russell & C. M. Yonge Seas 37 Especially common in the pools is the ‘Snake-locked anemone’.
1979 J. D. George & J. J. George Marine Life 32/1 Anemonia sulcata..(snakelocks anemone). A species with many sinuous tentacles.
snake moss n. Lycopodium clavatum (Treas. Bot., Suppl. 1874).
ΚΠ
1854 J. Lindley School Bot. (new ed.) 154 Lycopodium. 1. L. clavatum (Clubmoss, Snakemoss).
snake mouth n.
ΚΠ
1829 A. H. Lincoln Familiar Lect. Bot. App. 300 Pogonia..ophioglossoides (snake mouth arethusa).
snake nut n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > South American and West Indian trees or shrubs > [noun] > snake-nut tree or snake-nut
snake nut1846
1846 J. Lindley Veg. Kingdom 383 The nut of a Demerara tree, called the Snake-nut, in consequence of the large embryo, resembling a snake coiled up.
1849 J. H. Balfour Man. Bot. §807 Ophiocaryon paradoxum, is the Snake-nut-tree of Demerara.
snake osier n.
ΚΠ
1885 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts 4th Ser. 277/1 The best variety is known under several names, as those of the snake osier [etc.].
snake plant n. (a) (see quot. 1883); (b) = mother-in-law's tongue n. at mother-in-law n. and adj. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > foliage, house, or garden plants > [noun] > ornamental cacti
Rochea1819
echeveria1840
snake plant1883
zygocactus1950
mother-in-law's tongue1958
1883 W. Robinson Eng. Flower Garden (1901) 436 Arum Dracunculus (Dragons, Snake Plant).
1946 M. Free All about House Plants xviii. 271 The common Snake-plant..is one of the most inelegant of all plants, with its stiff, 30-inch, upright leaves.
1973 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 21 Nov. 24/1 He had poured his heart out to a hardy sansevieria, otherwise known as snake plant or mother-in-law's tongues.
snake-seed n.
ΚΠ
1832 G. Don Gen. Syst. Gardening & Bot. II. 60/1 Ophispermum Sinense.., China Snake-seed.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 815/2 The fruits [of Ophiocaryon paradoxum] are often sent to this country as curiosities, under the name of Snake-nuts or Snake-seeds.
ΚΠ
1632 R. Sherwood Dict. in R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues (new ed.) Snake-weede, snake-wort, bistorte.
C5. In collocations with snake's, chiefly in plant-names (see quots.).Cf. also the Eng. Dial. Dict. and recent American dictionaries.
ΚΠ
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 659 Buglosse..is called..in English vipers Buglosse, Snakes Buglosse.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Ail Sauvage, Wild Garlicke,..Stags Garlicke, Snakes Garlicke.
a1676 R. Cromwell Let. in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1898) 13 93 He hath sent of the Snakes root of Verginnia..as the best of cordialls.
1863 R. C. A. Prior On Pop. Names Brit. Plants (at cited word) Snake's tail, from its cylindrical spikes, Rottböllia incurvata.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 1067/2 Snake's-beard, Ophiopogon.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 1067/2 Snake's-tail, Lepturus incurvus.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 1067/2 Snake's-tongue, Lygodium.
1887 G. Nicholson Illustr. Dict. Gardening III. 447 Snake's-mouth Orchis... Pogonia ophioglossum.
1902 Cycl. Amer. Hort.: R–Z 1673 Snake's Tongue, Ophioglossum.
Draft additions September 2013
snake house n. a building, esp. in a zoo, for housing and exhibiting snakes; cf. serpentarium n.
ΚΠ
1705 tr. W. Bosman New Descr. Coast of Guinea xix. 370 The Snake-House [Du. Slangenhuis]..is situated about two Miles from the King's Village, and built under a very beautiful lofty Tree, In which (say they) the chief and largest of all the Snakes resides.
1871 Appletons' Jrnl. 27 Jan. 109 Holland, the intelligent and obliging keeper of the snake-house, was made aware, by the excitement of the visitors, that something unusual was going on.
1979 A. Jute Reverse Negative (1980) 225 I thought of the snake house at London Zoo.
2011 Penrith (Austral.) Press (Nexis) 11 Feb. (Features section) 91 We were taken to a snake house. The handler showed us cages and underground mini bunker-like storage areas which held a range of snakes.
Draft additions September 2018
snake-hipped adj. (of a person, typically a man) that has very slender hips and moves in a sinuous way; (also of a movement) that is performed by a person with slender, sinuous hips.
ΚΠ
1925 Time 7 Sept. 31/2 Dancing masters stand up straight; they do not lift their toes from the floor, or walked pigeon-toed, box-angled, snake-hipped.
1946 Jazzways 1 No. 1. 96/2 His promoters demanded ‘showmanship’ as well, which meant cavorting about the stage like a snake-hipped jitterbug.
1976 ‘G. Black’ Moon for Killers i. 7 He looked like a Hollywood top actor of the fifties..still almost snake-hipped, with long, thrust-out legs.
1989 Times 21 Aug. 14/7 A host of love-sick females..gazed in mute rapture at such snake-hipped idols.
2013 Daily Tel. 30 May 24/3 With plenty of Elvis and Jagger in his snake-hipped thrusts and twirls.
2017 Daily Mail (Nexis) 14 Oct. The 77-year-old's days of snake-hipped gyrations are behind him after he revealed he has undergone a hip replacement.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
snakev.1
/sneɪk/, U.S. /sneɪk/ I. Senses relating to a twisting or winding action.
1.
a. transitive. To twist or wind (hair) into the form of a snake. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > beautify (the hair) [verb (transitive)] > braid
tress?a1366
browd1386
broidc1405
braid1530
border1585
entrammel1598
snake1653
queue1754
cue1774
club1779
trace1832
weave1884
1653 J. Hall Paradoxes 114 Who would not be sooner smitten with Tresses curiously snak't.
b. Nautical. (See quot. 1846.)
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > other nautical operations > [verb (transitive)] > work ropes or cables in specific ways
windc1550
veer1590
veer1604
rousea1625
heave1626
overhaul1626
ease1627
pay1627
reeve1627
unbend1627
to come up1685
overhale1692
to pay away1769
surge1769
render1777
to pay out1793
to round down1793
to set upon ——1793
swig1794
veer1806
snake1815
to side out for a bend1831
rack1841
snub1841
society > travel > travel by water > directing or managing a ship > use of sails, spars, or rigging > carry specific amount of sail [verb (transitive)] > fasten rope to or between stays
swifter1794
snake1815
1815 W. Burney Falconer's New Universal Dict. Marine (rev. ed.) 487/1 Snaking the Stays, or Ropes on the Quarters, instead of Netting.
1840 Adm. Winnington-Ingram Hearts of Oak (1889) 27 Put ratlines on the backstays, snaked the stays, slung the topmasts with chain.
1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 288 Snake, to pass small stuff across a seizing at the outer turns by way of finish. To attach lengths of rope between two stays or backstays.
c. To move, stretch out, (the head, etc.) after the manner of a snake. Also reflexive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > writhing or twisting movement > writhe or twist [verb (transitive)] > move something sinuously
snake1887
the world > movement > progressive motion > specific manner of progressive motion > move progressively in specific manner [verb (reflexive)] > move along by wriggling or writhing
wriggle1573
worm1865
snake1887
weevle1889
1887 D. C. Murray & H. Herman One Traveller Returns i The girl snaking her head hither and thither in the eagerness of her regard.
1890 L. C. D'Oyle Notches Rough Edge Life 60 Then falling down full-length upon the ground he began to crawl, or rather ‘snake’ himself, up to the brow.
d. To cover or decorate with spirals or coils.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > ornamental art and craft > pattern or design > pattern [verb (transitive)] > curves or spirals
wave1547
snail1881
snake1887
1887 Sporting Life (Philadelphia) 22 June 6/5 The portico pillars of the Mansion House were ‘snaked’ with richly coloured illumination lamps.
2. figurative.1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. viii. 105 I b'lieve..I could get along and snake through, even if justices were more particular than they is.
a. intransitive. To move in a creeping, crawling, or stealthy manner suggestive of the movements of a snake.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > specific manner of progressive motion > move progressively in specific manner [verb (intransitive)] > softly or stealthily
creepc1175
skulk?c1225
stealc1374
slipc1400
sneak1598
crawl1623
snake1848
slime1898
oil1925
1848 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (at cited word) There's some fellows who's..snaking up to the Grand Jury, on their bellies in the grass, kind of trying to hear what the Jury are talking about.
1848 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 1st Ser. 136 Pomp he snaked up behind, An' creepin' grad'lly close tu,..grabbed my leg.
1893 C. King Foes in Ambush 187 Unseen Indians would come skulking, spying, ‘snaking’ upon their refuge.
b. spec. (see quots.).
ΚΠ
1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 378 An arrow is said to snake when it works itself under the grass.
1876 G. E. Voyle & G. de Saint-Clair-Stevenson Mil. Dict. (ed. 3) 391/1 Projectiles subject to this influence [i.e. spiral motion of rotation round their original direction] are technically said to snake.
3. To wind, twist, curve, etc., in a snake-like manner.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > point or lie in a direction [verb (intransitive)] > change direction > turn or bend > bend or wind
twine1553
crankle1598
crinklea1600
creek1610
straggle1612
wind1613
serpentize1699
wander1747
serpentine1767
meander1785
zigzag1787
serpentinize1791
twister1872
snake1875
twist1879
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > writhing or twisting movement > writhe or twist [verb (intransitive)] > move sinuously
wrinkle1565
wringle1596
erch1601
worm1610
serpent1818
snake1902
1875 I. L. Bird Hawaiian Archipel. xxi. 302 The track..snaked along the narrow tops of spine-like ridges.
1888 W. C. Russell Death Ship II. 206 The hacked ends of the shrouds snaking out into the hollows and swellings over the side.
1902 A. E. W. Mason Four Feathers (1903) 2 A coil of white smoke from a train snaked rapidly in and out amongst the trees.
4. transitive. To make (one's way) in a sinuous or creeping manner.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > specific manner of progressive motion > move or cause to move progressively in specific manner [verb (transitive)] > make (way) by writhing or wriggling
worm1822
to writhe one's way1836
swiggle1837
slime1842
wriggle1863
snake1879
1879 I. L. Bird Lady's Life Rocky Mts. 5 The monster train snaked its way upwards.
1894 D. C. Murray Making of Novelist 28 One by one we snaked our way..into the hole.
II. Senses relating to drawing or pulling with effort.
5. figurative.1834 C. A. Davis Lett. J. Downing, Major i. 14 We snaked him out of that scrape as slick as a whistle.1883 Philad. Times No. 2810. 4 Some legal loophole..through which an evasion or extension can be successfully snaked.
a. U.S. To drag, pull, or draw; spec. in Lumbering, to haul (logs) along the ground length-wise by means of chains or ropes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > lumbering > lumber [verb (intransitive)] > haul logs lengthwise
snake1829
the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > lumbering > [verb (transitive)] > transport logs
swamp1784
boom1798
snake1829
sluice1877
water1877
skid1878
tode1895
1829 T. Flint George Mason ii. 21 It was so contrived that..logs..could be drawn, or, as it is technically phrased, snaked into church.
1848 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (at cited word) A farmer in clearing land, attaches a chain to a stump or log, whereby to draw it out; this he calls, snaking it out.
1878 Lumberman's Gaz. 26 Jan. Where the haul is very short, and so close to the streams that the logs are ‘snaked’ in without being skidded.
1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 206/1 The..cattle snake the log endwise down the hill.
b. transferred. To drag or pull forcibly or quickly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impelling or driving > pushing and pulling > push and pull [verb (transitive)] > pull > forcibly
halec1275
hurlc1305
ruga1325
windc1400
lugc1540
haul1581
pully-haul1839
snake1856
1856 M. Thomson Plu-ri-bus-tah xii. 135 First he pulled the pillow-case off. Then he snaked the stars and stripes off.
1897 F. T. Bullen Cruise ‘Cachalot’ (1900) xxvii. 359 One of the small London tugs..would have snaked those monsters along at the rate of three of four knots an hour.
1899 F. T. Bullen Log of Sea-waif 341 How we did snake the hatches off.
c. To push through a course of study or examination with some difficulty. U.S. colloquial.
ΚΠ
1924 Scribner's Mag. Feb. 184/2 He never studied, and had to be snaked through by tutors at the end of each semester.
6. U.S. slang. To beat, thrash.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (transitive)] > specifically a person
to-beatc893
threshOE
bustc1225
to lay on or upon?c1225
berrya1250
to-bunea1250
touchc1330
arrayc1380
byfrapc1380
boxc1390
swinga1400
forbeatc1420
peal?a1425
routa1425
noddlea1450
forslinger1481
wipe1523
trima1529
baste1533
waulk1533
slip1535
peppera1550
bethwack1555
kembc1566
to beat (a person) black and blue1568
beswinge1568
paik1568
trounce1568
canvass1573
swaddle?1577
bebaste1582
besoop1589
bumfeage1589
dry-beat1589
feague1589
lamback1589
clapperclaw1590
thrash1593
belam1595
lam1595
beswaddle1598
bumfeagle1598
belabour1600
tew1600
flesh-baste1611
dust1612
feeze1612
mill1612
verberate1614
bethumpa1616
rebuke1619
bemaul1620
tabor1624
maula1627
batterfang1630
dry-baste1630
lambaste1637
thunder-thump1637
cullis1639
dry-banga1640
nuddle1640
sauce1651
feak1652
cotton1654
fustigate1656
brush1665
squab1668
raddle1677
to tan (a person's) hide1679
slam1691
bebump1694
to give (a person) his load1694
fag1699
towel1705
to kick a person's butt1741
fum1790
devel1807
bray1808
to beat (also scare, etc.) someone's daylights out1813
mug1818
to knock (a person) into the middle of next week1821
welt1823
hidea1825
slate1825
targe1825
wallop1825
pounce1827
to lay into1838
flake1841
muzzle1843
paste1846
looder1850
frail1851
snake1859
fettle1863
to do over1866
jacket1875
to knock seven kinds of —— out of (a person)1877
to take apart1880
splatter1881
to beat (knock, etc.) the tar out of1884
to —— the shit out of (a person or thing)1886
to do up1887
to —— (the) hell out of1887
to beat — bells out of a person1890
soak1892
to punch out1893
stoush1893
to work over1903
to beat up1907
to punch up1907
cream1929
shellac1930
to —— the bejesus out of (a person or thing)1931
duff1943
clobber1944
to fill in1948
to bash up1954
to —— seven shades of —— out of (a person or thing)1976
to —— seven shades out of (a person or thing)1983
beast1990
becurry-
fan-
1859 in J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 2) 421 Any gal like me..ought to be able to snake any man of her heft.
7. U.S. To take out surreptitiously.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > stealthy action, stealth > accomplish clandestinely [verb (transitive)] > remove
shufflea1616
snake1862
1862 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 2nd Ser. ii. i. 60 Ef You snake one link out here, one there, how much on 't ud be lef'?
Draft additions December 2016
transitive. Surfing slang. To cut into a wave ahead of (another surfer) by beginning one's ride in his or her path. Cf. to drop in 6(a) at drop v. Phrasal verbs.
ΚΠ
1987 N.Y. Times 21 Oct. c1 When one surfer cuts off another, it is known as being snaked.
1990 Surfing Apr. 36 I always make an effort not to snake people, but I don't think that just because a person is taking off deeper and yells ‘Hey!’ that they should automatically get the wave.
2010 S. Bleakley Surfing Brilliant Corners 110 ‘He thinks he can snake me. He don't know the rules,’ says the local.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
snakev.2
dialect and U.S.
1. intransitive. To skulk or sneak.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > stealthy action, stealth > stealthy movement > move stealthily [verb (intransitive)]
besteala725
snikec897
steal1154
creepc1175
skulk?c1225
snaker?c1225
stalkc1300
slenchc1330
lurka1375
slinkc1374
snokec1380
slide1382
slipc1400
mitchera1575
sneak1598
snake1818
sly1825
snoop1832
to steal one's way1847
sniggle1881
gumshoe1897
slime1898
pussyfoot1902
soft-foot1913
cat-foot1916
pussy1919
pussa1953
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > stealthy action, stealth > lurking, skulking > lurk, skulk [verb (intransitive)]
loutc825
atlutienc1000
darec1000
lotea1200
skulk?c1225
lurkc1300
luskc1330
tapisc1330
lurchc1420
filsnec1440
lour?c1450
slink?c1550
mitch1558
jouk1575
scout1577
scult1622
meecha1625
tappy1706
slive1707
slinge1747
snake1818
cavern1860
1818 J. Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck I. 140 Some o' thae beasts that gang snaiken about i' the derk.
1882 Jamieson's Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (new ed.) To snaik, to sneak, in walking, working, or speaking.
1894 H. Caine Manxman iv. xvii Young Ross snaked out of the house same as a cur.
2. transitive. To get or obtain (a thing) furtively or surreptitiously; to steal or pilfer; to cheat (a person) out of something. Also, to cheat (someone) at cards.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > taking surreptitiously > take surreptitiously [verb (transitive)]
forsteala940
stealc950
undernimc1175
to run away with?c1430
embezzle1469
steal?1473
surrept1548
cloyne1549
abstract1555
secrete1749
smuggle1768
to run off1821
snakea1861
sneak1883
snitch1904
palm1941
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > steal [verb (transitive)] > steal sneakingly
snakea1861
sneak1883
swike1889
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > stealthy action, stealth > accomplish clandestinely [verb (transitive)] > gain
stealc1426
suborn1541
smuggle1768
snakea1861
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > defrauding or swindling > perpetrate (a swindle) [verb (transitive)] > defraud or swindle
defraud1362
deceivec1380
plucka1500
lurch1530
defeata1538
souse1545
lick1548
wipe1549
fraud1563
use1564
cozen1573
nick1576
verse1591
rooka1595
trim1600
skelder1602
firk1604
dry-shave1620
fiddle1630
nose1637
foista1640
doa1642
sharka1650
chouse1654
burn1655
bilk1672
under-enter1692
sharp1699
stick1699
finger1709
roguea1714
fling1749
swindle1773
jink1777
queer1778
to do over1781
jump1789
mace1790
chisel1808
slang1812
bucket1819
to clean out1819
give it1819
to put in the hole1819
ramp1819
sting1819
victimize1839
financier1840
gum1840
snakea1861
to take down1865
verneuk1871
bunco1875
rush1875
gyp1879
salt1882
daddle1883
work1884
to have (one) on toast1886
slip1890
to do (a person) in the eye1891
sugar1892
flay1893
to give (someone) the rinky-dink1895
con1896
pad1897
screw1900
short-change1903
to do in1906
window dress1913
ream1914
twist1914
clean1915
rim1918
tweedle1925
hype1926
clip1927
take1927
gazump1928
yentz1930
promote1931
to take (someone) to the cleaners1932
to carve up1933
chizz1948
stiff1950
scam1963
to rip off1969
to stitch up1970
skunk1971
to steal (someone) blind1974
diddle-
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > treat fraudulently, cheat [verb (transitive)] > obtain fraudulently
wilea1400
lurch1530
fox1596
shirk1635
rook1647
trick1662
pigeon1675
sharp1699
cheat1712
fob1792
snakea1861
wangle1888
slip1890
finagle1926
skuldug1936
swizz1961
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > card-sharping or cheating > cheat someone at cards [verb (transitive)]
pigeon1785
snakea1861
a1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1862) xvi. 183 They snaked me to the figure of a slug at their cheatin' game.
1886 R. Kipling Departm. Ditties (ed. 2) 36 You will find excuse to snake Three days' ‘casual’ on the bust.
1921 T. Dreiser Let. 2 Jan. (1959) I. 333 Start the ball and if I snake the forty thousand..you get five thousand.
1959 Amer. Speech 34 155 A girl or boy who makes a play for another's date is snaking... If he succeeds, the loser gets the shaft (sometimes with barbs), the purple shaft, or the maroon harpoon, depending upon the degree of injury to his pride.
1977 Amer. Speech 1975 50 66 Snake,..steal (one's date) ‘Carol tried to snake my date last night’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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