viper-likeadv.adj.
/ˈvʌɪpəlʌɪk/, U.S. /ˈvaɪpərˌlaɪk/ A. adv.
In or after the manner of a viper. Only in allusive use (see viper n. 3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killing of type of person > [adverb] > of mother
viper-like1630
1630 M. Drayton Muses Elizium x. 84 This cruell kinde thus Viper-like deuoure That fruitfull soyle which them too fully fed.
1647 J. Hall Poems i. 43 Had not thy mother born thee toothlesse, thou Hadst eaten Viper-like a passage through.
1677 A. Horneck Great Law Consideration (1704) iv. 141 If Absalom had not had a kingdom in his eye, he would hardly have,..viperlike, preyed upon the bowels that did feed him.
a1700 J. Dryden tr. Maimbourg Hist. League Postscr., in Wks. (1821) XVII. 162 The government in which they live, and which, viper-like, they would devour.
1729 S. Madden Themistocles (ed. 3) iv. i. 44 Can I live By Athens' Ruin, working out my Way Into the World, most Viper-like, by gnawing E'en thro' my Mother's Bowels?
1771 Kelly Clementina iii. i They'll else blast all the comforts of your life, And, viper-like, with death return your fondness.
1897 C. M. Flandrau Harvard Episodes 277 He couldn't bring himself at that late day to arise, viper like, from the hearthstone and smite.
B. adj.
Like or resembling a viper.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Ophidia (snakes) > types of snake > [adjective] > of or relating to family Viperidae > resembling a viper
viperinec1540
viperish1863
viperiformc1882
viper-like1888
1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 247 The genus Echis consists of but one species (E. carinata)... It is a viper-like snake.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 3 Mar. 2/1 The noise of the little brass viper-like being in the corner as it whirred and hissed and snapped its teeth.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1917; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adv.adj.1630