cobra

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any of several venomous Asian or African elapid snakes that can spread the ribs of the neck to form a hood, especially a snake of the genus Naja

   The cobra raised the front of its body and spread its hood when the handler approached.

Appears in

Shortened from Portuguese cobra de capelo, 'snake with a hood.' Portuguese cobra, 'snake,' descends from Latin colubra, also 'snake.' English first used the longer phrase for the hood-spreading snakes encountered in South Asia before cobra became the independent common name.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary