Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various venomous pit vipers of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the Americas, having at the end of the tail a series of loosely attached, horny segments that can be vibrated to produce a rattling or buzzing sound.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A venomous serpent of the family Crotalidæ, whose tail ends in a rattle or crepitaculum; a crotaliform or solenogly phic serpent, or pit-viper, of either of the genera Crotalus and Crotalophorus.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of venomous American snakes belonging to the genera Crotalus and Caudisona, or Sistrurus; sometimes also called
rattler . They have a series of horny interlocking joints at the end of the tail which make a sharp rattling sound when shaken. The common rattlesnake of the Northern United States (Crotalus horridus ), and thediamondback rattlesnake (also calleddiamondback rattler , anddiamondback ) of the South and East (Crotalus adamanteus ) and West (Crotalus atrox ), are the best known. SeeIllust. offang . - noun (Zoöl.) a small rattlesnake (
Caudisona miliaria orSistrurus miliaria ) of the Southern United States, having a small rattle. It has nine large scales on its head. - noun (Bot.) a common American fern (
Botrychium Virginianum ) having a triangular decompound frond and a long-stalked panicle of spore cases rising from the middle of the frond. - noun (Bot.) a handsome American grass (
Glyceria Canadensis ) with an ample panicle of rather large ovate spikelets, each one composed of imbricated parts and slightly resembling the rattle of the rattlesnake. Sometimes calledquaking grass . - noun (Bot.) See under
Plantain . - noun (Bot.) a name given to certain American species of the composite genus Prenanthes (
Prenanthes alba andPrenanthes serpentaria ), formerly asserted to cure the bite of the rattlesnake. Called alsolion's foot ,gall of the earth , andwhite lettuce . - noun (Bot.) A composite plant, the blazing star (
Liatris squarrosa ). - noun (Bot.) a plant of the composite genus Hieracium (
Hieracium venosum ); -- probably so named from its spotted leaves. See alsoSnakeroot .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of various
poisonous American snakes , ofgenera Crotalus and Sistrurus, having arattle at the end of itstail .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun pit viper with horny segments at the end of the tail that rattle when shaken
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Among others, there is a sort of snake, which we call rattlesnake, from a certain object which it has back upon its tail, two or three fingers 'breadth long, and has ten or twelve joints, and with this it makes a noise like the crickets.
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Gil probably should have thought about that and realized that a street address with the word rattlesnake in it was most likely a bad omen—that things probably wouldn’t turn out well if they tried living there.
Fatal Error J.A. Jance 2011
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Gil probably should have thought about that and realized that a street address with the word rattlesnake in it was most likely a bad omen—that things probably wouldn’t turn out well if they tried living there.
Fatal Error J.A. Jance 2011
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Tea Party activists view the flag as a historic symbol of American defiance, but critics say the familiar flag with the image of a coiled rattlesnake is now associated with the controversial political movement.
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Florida Conservation writes that the pygmy rattlesnake is common throughout all of Florida, and that its rattle "is small and slender and produces a sound like the buzzing of an insect."
Man Sues Walmart After Being Bitten By Snake, But Keeps Going Back For The Deals - The Consumerist 2009
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The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is threatened over much of its range, and if one turned up in my back yard, I'd relocate it.
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The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is threatened over much of its range, and if one turned up in my back yard, I'd relocate it.
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Our opinion of the rattlesnake is very close to the Egyptian opinion of the cat.
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Our opinion of the rattlesnake is very close to the Egyptian opinion of the cat.
Archive 2008-08-01 2008
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Abstract: A distinctive new species of rattlesnake is described from the western versant of the Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero, Mexico.
Archive 2008-12-01 2008
oroboros commented on the word rattlesnake
A variety of green bean. Rattlesnake Pole Bean.
July 31, 2011
dinkum commented on the word rattlesnake
WORD: rattlesnake
DEFINITION:
(1) ' n. Any of various poisonous American snakes, of genera Crotalus and Sistrurus, having a rattle at the end of its tail. ' -- Wiktionary
(2) According to Kurt Vonnegut, the rattlesnake is a creature so inimical to humankind that it makes you wonder about the vaunted benevolence of the Creator of the Universe. (E.g., serpent in the Garden of Eden).
EXAMPLE:
' Dwayne mimicked her cruelly in a falsetto voice . . . He looked about as pleasant and relaxed as a coiled rattlesnake now. It was his bad chemicals, of course, which were compelling him to look like that . . .
' The Creator of the Universe had put a rattle on its the rattlesnake's tail. The Creator had also given it front teeth which were hypodermic syringes filled with deadly poison.
' Sometimes I wonder about the Creator of the Universe. '
-- From Kurt Vonnegut's 1973 novel Breakfast of Champions -- Chapter 15 (page 159 - 160).
1973 KURT VONNEGUT, JR. Breakfast of Champions, or, Goodbye Blue Monday
August 28, 2013