serpent

noun

1. 1

   archaicA snake.

   He falls into it, who has digg'd a Pit. Who breaks a Hedge is with a Serpent bit.

   Coiled up behind the shrub, […] was a green imamba, the most dreaded of all South African serpents.

   Any serpent six feet long looks formidable; and over that length, one takes on the aspect of a chimera.

2. 2

   A snake-like monster, such as a dragon or sea serpent.

   Then Beowulf too rallied. With his whetted dagger he slit a gash in the serpent's middle.

3. 3

   figurativeA person who is subtle, malicious, treacherous, or deceiving.

   He is a very serpent in my way.

   'Dogs and serpents,' She began in a low voice that gradually gathered power as she went on, till the place rang with it. Eaters of human flesh, two things have ye done. First, ye have attacked these strangers, being white men, and would have slain their servant, and for that alone death is your reward.'

4. 4

   An obsolete wind instrument in the brass family, whose shape is suggestive of a snake (Wikipedia article).

5. 5

   A kind of firework with a serpentine motion.

6. 6

   Variant of SerpentarchaicA snake. Alternative letter-case form of Serpent.

verb

1. 1

   obsoleteTo wind or meander

2. 2

   obsoleteTo encircle.

   fruit-trees, whose boles are serpented with excellent vines

Forms

plural

serpents

past tense

serpented

past participle

serpented

present participle

serpenting

third person singular

serpents