| snakefish | <zoology> The band fish. The lizard fish. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| snakehead | 1. A loose, bent-up end of one of the strap rails, or flat rails, formerly used on American railroads. It was sometimes so bent by the passage of a train as to slip over a wheel and pierce the bottom of a car. 2. <botany> The turtlehead. The Guinea-hen flower. See Snake's-head, and under Guinea. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| snakeneck | <zoology> The snakebird. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| snakeroot | <botany> Any one of several plants of different genera and species, most of which are (or were formerly) reputed to be efficacious as remedies for the bites of serpents; also, the roots of any of these. The Virginia snakeroot is Aristolochia Serpentaria; black snakeroot is Sanicula, especially. S. Marilandica, also Cimicifuga racemosa; Seneca snakeroot is Polygala Senega; button snakeroot is Liatris, also Eryngium; white snakeroot is Eupatorium ageratoides. The name is also applied to some others besides these. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| snakestone | 1. A kind of hone slate or whetstone obtained in Scotland. 2. <paleontology> An ammonite; so called from its form, which resembles that of a coiled snake. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| snakeweed | <botany> A kind of knotweed (Polygonum Bistorta). The Virginia snakeroot. See Snakeroot. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| snakewood | <botany> An East Indian climbing plant (Strychnos colubrina) having a bitter taste, and supposed to be a remedy for the bite of the hooded serpent. An East Indian climbing shrub (Ophioxylon serpentinum) which has the roots and stems twisted so as to resemble serpents. Same as Trumpetwood. A tropical American shrub (Plumieria rubra) which has very fragrant red blossoms. Same as Letterwood. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| snap | 1. To break short, or at once; to part asunder suddenly; as, a mast snaps; a needle snaps. "But this weapon will snap short, unfaithful to the hand that employs it." (Burke) 2. To give forth, or produce, a sharp, cracking noise; to crack; as, blazing firewood snaps. 3. To make an effort to bite; to aim to seize with the teeth; to catch eagerly (at anything); often with at; as, a dog snapsat a passenger; a fish snaps at the bait. 4. To utter sharp, harsh, angry words; often with at; as, to snap at a child. 5. To miss fire; as, the gun snapped. 1. A sudden breaking or rupture of any substance. 2. A sudden, eager bite; a sudden seizing, or effort to seize, as with the teeth. 3. A sudden, sharp motion or blow, as with the finger sprung from the thumb, or the thumb from the finger. 4. A sharp, abrupt sound, as that made by the crack of a whip; as, the snap of the trigger of a gun. 5. A greedy fellow. 6. That which is, or may be, snapped up; something bitten off, seized, or obtained by a single quick movement; hence, a bite, morsel, or fragment; a scrap. "He's a nimble fellow, And alike skilled in every liberal science, As having certain snaps of all." (B. Jonson) 7. A sudden severe interval or spell; applied to the weather; as, a cold snap. 8. A small catch or fastening held or closed by means of a spring, or one which closes with a snapping sound, as the catch of a bracelet, necklace, clasp of a book, etc. 9. <zoology> A snap beetle. 10. A thin, crisp cake, usually small, and flavored with ginger; used chiefly in the plural. 11. Briskness; vigor; energy; decision. 12. Any circumstance out of which money may be made or an advantage gained. Snap back, a flask for small work, having its sides separable and held together by latches, so that the flask may be removed from around the sand mold. Snap judgment, a judgment formed on the instant without deliberation. Snap lock, a lock shutting with a catch or snap. Snap riveting, riveting in which the rivets have snapheads formed by a die or swaging tool. Snap shot, a quick offhand shot, without deliberately taking aim. Origin: Cf. D. Snap a snatching. See Snap. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| snap finger | An affection in which the movement of the finger is arrested for a moment in flexion or extension and then continues with a jerk. Synonym: jerk finger, lock finger, snap finger, spring finger, stuck finger. (05 Mar 2000) |
| snapdragon | 1. <botany> Any plant of the scrrophulariaceous genus Antirrhinum, especially the cultivated A. Majus, whose showy flowers are fancifully likened to the face of a dragon. A West Indian herb (Ruellia tuberosa) with curiously shaped blue flowers. 2. A play in which raisins are snatched from a vessel containing burning brandy, and eaten; also, that which is so eaten. See Flapdragon. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| snapper | 1. One who, or that which, snaps; as, a snapper up of trifles; the snapper of a whip. 2. <zoology> Any one of several species of large sparoid food fishes of the genus Lutjanus, abundant on the southern coasts of the United States and on both coasts of tropical America. The red snapper (Lutjanus aya, or Blackfordi) and the gray, or mangrove, snapper (L. Griseus) are large and abundant species. The name is loosely applied to various other fishes, as the bluefish, the rosefish, the red grouper, etc. See Rosefish. 3. <zoology> A snapping turtle; as, the alligator snapper. 4. <zoology> The green woodpecker, or yaffle. 5. <zoology> A snap beetle. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| snapping | From Snap, Snapping beetle. <zoology> A large and voracious aquatic turtle (Chelydra serpentina) common in the fresh waters of the United States; so called from its habit of seizing its prey by a snap of its jaws. Called also mud turtle. See Alligator snapper, under Alligator. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| snapping reflex | <clinical sign> In latent tetany mild mechanical stimulation of the trigeminal nerve causes severe pain, flexion of the terminal phalanx of the thumb and of the second and third phalanges of one or more of the fingers when the volar surface of the terminal phalanx of the fingers is flicked. Synonym: digital reflex, Hoffmann's reflex, snapping reflex. (05 Mar 2000) |
| snapweed | <botany> See Impatiens. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| snare | 1. A contrivance, often consisting of a noose of cord, or the like, by which a bird or other animal may be entangled and caught; a trap; a gin. 2. Hence, anything by which one is entangled and brought into trouble. "If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed, Stands with the snares of war to tangle thee." (Shak) 3. The gut or string stretched across the lower head of a drum. 4. <medicine> An instrument, consisting usually of a wireloop or noose, for removing tumours, etc, by avulsion. Snare drum, the smaller common military drum, as distinguished from the bass drum; so called because (in order to render it more resonant) it has stretched across its lower head a catgut string or strings. Origin: AS. Sneara cord, a string; akin to D. Snoer, G. Schnur, OHG. Snour a cord, snarahha a noose, Dan. Snare, Sw. & Icel. Snara, Goth. Snrj a basket; and probably also to E. Needle. See Needle, and cf. Snarl to entangle. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |