Serpens (serpenz)

[L.: see serpent.] An ancient northern constellation intimately connected with, but not treated as a part of, Ophi uchus (which see). serpent (serpent), a. and n. [Orig. adj., but in E. first used as a noun; also formerly and dial. sarpent; sarpa, a snake); usually identified also with L. repere, creep (see repent2, reptile), the ✓ sarp being perhaps seen also in E. salve: see salvel.] I. a. 1. Crawling on the belly, as a snake, or reptant, as an ophidian; of or pertaining to the Serpentine lated serpent able, by means of their dilatable mouths and the general distensibility of their bodies, to swallow animals of greater girth than themselves. In cold and temperate countries serpents hibernate in a state of torpidity. They are oviparous or ovoviviparous, and in some cases the young take refuge from danger by crawling into the gullet of the mother, whence the common belief that snakes swallow their young. Most serpents can be tamed, or at least rendered gentle, by handling; others, as the rat-snake of India, are almost domestic; but the more venomous kinds can be safely handled only when the fangs have been removed. There is a very general misapprehension respecting the comparative numbers of venomous and harmle serpents. Out of more than 300 genera of ophidians, only about 50, or one sixth, are poisonous, and more than half of these belong to the two families Najidæ and Crotalidæ (the cobra and the rattlesnake families). The true vipers ( Vi peridæ ) and the sea-serpents ( Hydrophidæ ), all venomous, have six or eight genera apiece; and four other venomous families have but one to three genera apiece. The proportion of venomous to non venomous species is still than the genera, as latter average more species to a genus than the former. Poisonous serpents are mainly confined to tropical and warm temperate countries; they are more numerous and diversified in the Old World than in the New, and rather more forms are Proteroglypha than Sole no glyph a (see these words). Serpents large enough to be formidable from their powers of constriction belong to the Boidæ and Pythonidæ. A few families contain very small species, worm-like in appearance and to some extent in habits. A majority of all serpents belong to one family, the harmle Colubridæ. See cuts under the various popular and technical names. And hadde not ben the doublet that he hadde of a ser pentes skyn, deed hadde he ben with-oute recouer. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 336. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field. Gen. iii. 1. 2. [cap.] In astron., a constellation in the northern hemisphere. See Ophiuchus.-3. A musical instrument, properly of the trumpet family, having a cupped mouthpiece, a conical wood IMG:content-0677.png:[blocks in formation] is an early form of the instrument. middle C, and included more or le diatonic and chromatic tones according to the skill of the performer. Its tone was pervasive, though somewhat harsh. It is said to have been invented by a canon of Auxerre in 1590 for use in church music. It was retained in orchestras until the invention of the contrafagotto, and is still occasionally used in French churches. A serpent was a good old note; a deep, rich note was the serpent. T. Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree, iv. 4. In organ - building, a reed-stop similar to the trombone.-5. Figuratively, a person who in looks or ways suggests a serpent; a wily, treacherous person; rarely, a fatally fascinating per son. Ye serpents , ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Mat. xxiii. 33. He's speaking now, Or murmuring, "Where's my serpent of old Nile?" For so he calls me. Shak ., A. and C., i. 5. 25. 6. A kind of firework which burns with a zigzag, serpentine motion or light. In fire-works give him leave to vent his spite, Those are the only serpents he can write. Dryden, Abs. and Achit., ii. 452. 7. In firearms, same as serpent in. - Naked serpents. See naked. - Pharaoh's serpent, a chemical toy cur enveloped in a cone of tinfoil, The cone is placed consisting of a small quantity of sulphocyanide of mer Back on herself her serpent pride had curl'd. Tennyson, Palace of Art.