Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An African tree-snake, Bucephalus capensis.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun South Africa A highly venomous snake found in sub-Saharan Africa, Dispholidus typus.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Afrikaans boomslang, from Dutch boomslang, composed of boom ("tree") + slang ("snake").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word boomslang.

Examples

  • And while the boomslang was a great balled mouse, it was abit flat and it got outrun by the optical ones.

    The Tech Report: News 2009

  • Most snakes occurring here are not poisonous, and those that are tend to be shy, as in the case of the boomslang (Dispholidus typus), which spends much of its time hunting birds and chameleons in the trees.

    Knysna-Amatole montane forests 2008

  • Among the reptilian predators are the boomslang (Dispholidus typus typus), Cape cobra (Naja nivea), puff adder (Bitis arietans), and rock monitor (Varanus exanthematicus albigularis), as well as geckos, lizards, and skinks.

    Kalahari xeric savanna 2008

  • The most common arboreal snakes are the green mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps) and the boomslang (Dispholidus typus typus).

    Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic 2008

  • She brought in a boomslang as a present and deposited it, still very much alive, on the lounge carpet.

    Rainbow’s End Lauren St John 2007

  • Near-imperceptible rustles in the thatch sent me into a fever of terror, and on several occasions I convinced myself that a thread of green boomslang was dangling above my bed in the darkness, ready to inflict a fatal bite.

    Rainbow’s End Lauren St John 2007

  • She brought in a boomslang as a present and deposited it, still very much alive, on the lounge carpet.

    Rainbow’s End Lauren St John 2007

  • Near-imperceptible rustles in the thatch sent me into a fever of terror, and on several occasions I convinced myself that a thread of green boomslang was dangling above my bed in the darkness, ready to inflict a fatal bite.

    Rainbow’s End Lauren St John 2007

  • Its strings — string, rather, for a single strand of fiberop carries much more than the required bandwidth — lay on the floor like a gory boomslang, gobbets of flesh and hair quivering at one end.

    The Year's Best Science Fiction 23rd Annual Collection Dozois, Gardner 2006

  • Hermione had taken the boomslang skin back in their second year - they had needed it for the Polyjuice Potion - and while Snape had suspected Harry at the time, he had never been able to prove it.

    Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Rowling, J. K. 2000

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • A venomous, tree-dwelling snake of South Africa.

    November 6, 2007

  • the -slang is cognate to 'schlong', which if isn't a key to fun madeupical compounds I don't know what is

    February 24, 2014