snake

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   move along a winding path

   The army snaked through the jungle

2. 2
   verb

   form a snake-like pattern

   The river snakes through the valley

3. 3
   noun

   Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptile with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues.

   The man writhed like a trampled snake, and a red foam bubbled from his lips.

4. 4
   noun

   A person who acts deceitfully for personal or social gain; a treacherous person.

   Near-synonyms: rat; see also Thesaurus:betrayer

5. 5
   noun

   An informer; a rat.

   Gem’s a snake for Kamale, man.

6. 6
   noun

   Ellipsis of snake in the tunnel.

   The snake failed to provide an anchor for currency stability and, through it, disinflation.

7. 7
   verb

   To follow or move in a winding route.

   The path snaked through the forest.

8. 8
   verb

   To steal slyly.

   He snaked my DVD!

Etymology

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”).