different between blindworm vs snake

English

Etymology

blind + worm, because of its very small eyes.

Noun

blindworm (plural blindworms)

1. Anguis fragilis (slowworm), a small species of legless lizard.
   • 1587, Raphael Holinshed et al., Chronicles of England, Scotlande and Irelande, Volume I, Book 3, Chapter 6, p. 228,^[1]

     […] we haue a blind worme to be found vnder logs in woods, and timber that hath lien long in a place, which some also doo call (and vpon better ground) by the name of [s]low worms, and they are knowen easilie by their more or lesse varietie of striped colours, drawen long waies from their heads, their whole bodies little excéeding a foot in length, & yet is there venem deadlie.

   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene 2,^[2]

     You spotted snakes with double tongue,

     Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;

     Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,

     Come not near our fairy queen.

Translations

References

• Anguis fragilis on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

From Middle English snake, from Old English snaca (“snake, serpent, reptile”), from Proto-Germanic *snakô (compare German Low German Snake, Snaak (“snake”), dialectal German Schnake (“adder”), Swedish snok (“grass snake”), Icelandic snákur (“snake”)), derived from *snakan? (“to crawl”) (compare Old High German snahhan), from Proto-Indo-European *sneg- (“to crawl; a creeping thing”). Cognate with Sanskrit ??? (n?gá, “snake”)). Doublet of n?ga.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sn?k, IPA^(key): /?sne?k/
• Rhymes: -e?k

Noun

snake (plural snakes)

1. A legless reptile of the sub-order Serpentes with a long, thin body and a fork-shaped tongue.

   Synonyms: joe blake, serpent
2. A treacherous person.
3. (Ireland) Somebody who acts deceitfully for social gain.
4. A tool for unclogging plumbing.

   Synonyms: auger, plumber's snake

5. A tool to aid cable pulling.

   Synonym: wirepuller

6. (Australia) A flavoured jube (confectionary) in the shape of a snake.
7. (slang) Trouser snake; the penis.

   Synonym: trouser snake

8. (mathematics) A series of Bézier curves.
9. (cartomancy) The seventh Lenormand card.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: sneki

Translations

Verb

snake (third-person singular simple present snakes, present participle snaking, simple past and past participle snaked)

1. (intransitive) To follow or move in a winding route.

   Synonyms: slither, wind

2. (transitive, Australia, slang) To steal slyly.
3. (transitive) To clean using a plumbing snake.
4. (US, informal) To drag or draw, as a snake from a hole; often with out.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bartlett to this entry?)

5. (nautical) To wind round spirally, as a large rope with a smaller, or with cord, the small rope lying in the spaces between the strands of the large one; to worm.

Translations

See also

• anguine

Further reading

• snake on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Kasen, Keans, akens, asken, kaens, kenas, nakes, skean, sneak

Middle English

Alternative forms

• snak, snaca

Etymology

From Old English snaca, from Proto-Germanic *snakô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sna?k(?)/

Noun

snake (plural snakes or snaken or snake)

1. snake
2. serpent

Descendants

• English: snake
  • Sranan Tongo: sneki
• Scots: snak, snake, snaik

References

• “sn?ke, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.