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snake

US/sneɪk/ common informal slang uk us
noun (5) verb (3)

noun

1.
2.
3.

a tributary of the Columbia River that rises in Wyoming and flows westward; discovered in 1805 by the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Synonyms
4.
5.

something resembling a snake

verb

1.

move smoothly and sinuously, like a snake

2.

form a snake-like pattern

  • “The river snakes through the valley”
3.

move along a winding path

  • “The army snaked through the jungle”

Origin

From Middle English snake, from Old English snaca (“snake, serpent, reptile”), from Proto-West Germanic *snakō (“slider, snake”), from *snakan (“to creep, slide”), related to Old High German snahhan (“to sneak, slide”). Compare also Proto-Germanic *snēkô (“creeper, crawler”). Cognate with German Low German Snake, Snaak (“snake”), dialectal German Schnake (“adder”), Danish snog (“grass snake”), Swedish snok (“grass snake”), Norwegian Nynorsk snåk (“viper, adder”), Faroese snákur (“grass snake”), Icelandic snákur (“snake”).

Phrases

  • Aesculapian snake
  • arrow snake
  • as mad as a cut snake
  • ball snake
  • bastard horn snake
  • beer snake
  • Big Bend patchnose snake
  • snake out

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.