viper (viper)

[ the family Viperi dæ: originally and especially applied to the only serpent of this kind occurring in the greater part of Europe, Vi per a communis or Head and Tail of Common Viper ( Pe lias berus), with erect fangs. Pelias berus. This is the only poisonous reptile which is found in Great Brit ain, and there it is neither very common nor very dan gerous. There are several genera and many species of vipers properly so called, all Old World, chiefly of warm countries, all poisonous, and most of them very danger. ous if not fatal; they are known indifferently as vipers. asps, or adders. See Viperidæ, and cuts under adder, Cerastes, and daboya. 2. Any venomous serpent except a rattlesnake; a viperine; a cobriform and not crotal i IMG:content-1865.jpg:[blocks in formation] see viper .] I. a. Resembling or related to the viper; of or pertaining to the Viper in a , es- pecially in the narrower sense: broadly dis- tinguished from colubrine , more strictly con- trasted with crotaline . Viperine snake. (a) Any member of the Viper in a . (b) harmle colubrine ser- pent of Europe, Trop i do not us viper in a , colored much like the true viper. See cut under snake. Encyc. Brit ., XXII. 198. viperish (vi'pėr-ish), a . [ viper + -ish1 .] Like a viper; somewhat viperous; malignant; ugly: as, a viperish old woman. viperling (vi'per-ling), n. [ viper + -ling1 .] A young or small viper. viperoid (vi'pe-roid), a. [ viper + -oid.] perine in a broad sense; of or pertaining to the Viperoidea . Viperoidea, Viperoides (vi-pe-roi'de-ä, -dēz), n. pl. [NL.: see viperoid .] Same as Viperi- na , 1. viperous (vi'per-us), a . [ viper +-ous.] Hav- ing the qualities of a viper; viperish; venom- ous; malignant; spiteful: chiefly said of men- tal qualities, or used figuratively. Which, though it repeopled the world, yet is it least be- holding to her viperous offspring. Purchas , Pilgrimage, p. 340. nine-line lay the rime-order is as follows: a, a, b, a, a, b, a, a, b. The virelai nouveau is written on two rimes throughout; and the lines of the first couplet reappear alternately at irregular intervals throughout the poem, concluding it in reverse order. No rime should be re- peated. [This form has been written in English but spar- ingly. Except by example, it is difficult to explain it. Here is the beginning of one: Good-bye to the Town!-good-bye! Hurrah! for the sea and the sky! In the street the flower-girls cry; In the street the water-carts ply; And a fluter, with features a-wry, Plays fitfully, "Scots, wha hae"- And the throat of that fluter is dry; Good-bye to the Town!-good-bye! And over the roof-tops nigh Mr. Chubb cast a suspicious and viperous glance at Fe- lix, who felt that he had been a simpleton for his pains. viperously (vi'per-us-li), adv . In a viperous manner; like a viper. Hauing spoken as malicious lie & viperous lie as he might . of Wikliffes life. Holinshed, Richard II., an. 1377. vipere (vi'pèr-es), n. [ viper + -e .] A feviper's-buglo (vi' pèrz - bū"glos), n. male viper. Would we fain'd, but hear Pontia confe , My Sons I would have poyson'd: Vipere ! viper-gourd (vi'pėr-gōrd), n. Same as snake- gourd. See gourd . Viperidæ (vi-per'i-dē), n . pl . [NL., Vipera + -idæ .] The vipers; one of four families into which the suborder Viper in a or viper's-gra (vi'pėrz-gras), n. See Scorzonera. viper-wine (vi'pėr-win), n. See the quotation. drank sack in which snakes were di olved, being com- monly called viper - wine , to restore nature. Court and Times of Charles I., II. 112, note. viraginian (vir-a-jin'i-an), a . [ virago ( -gin- ), a bold woman, + -ian.] Having the qualities of a virago; termagant. The remembrance of his old conversation among the viraginian trollops. Milton , Apology for Smectymnuus. viraginity (vir-a-jin'i-ti), n. [L. virago rago (-gin-), a bold woman, + -ity .] The qualities of a vi- rago. [Rare.] Imp . Dict . viraginous (vi-raj'i-nus), a. [L. virago (-gin-), a woman, + -ous .] -ous .] Same as viraginian . ried through the whole hamlet, with a view of exposing or shaming the viraginous lady. virago (vior vi-rāgō), n. [L. virago , a bold woman, a man-like woman, an Amazon, vir , man: see virile.] 1. A woman of extra ord i- nary stature, strength, and courage; a woman who has the robust body and masculine mind of a man; a female warrior. She procedeth like a Virago stoutly and chere fully to the fire, where the corps of her husbande was burnte, castinge her selfe into the same fyre. R. Eden, tr. of Sebastian Munster (First Books on Amer- [ica, ed. Arber, p. 24). "To arms, to arms!" the fierce virago cries, And swift as lightning to the combat flies. Pope , R. of the L., v. 37. Hence-2. A bold, impudent, turbulent wo- man; a termagant: now the usual meaning. When I distre her so again, may I lose her forever! and be linked instead to some antique virago , whose gnaw. ing pa ions, and long hoarded spleen, shall make me curse my folly. Sheridan, The Rivals, iii. 2. 3. [ cap .] [NL. (A. Newton, 1871).] A genus of Anatinæ : so called because the female has a peculiarity of the windpipe usually found only in male ducks. The species is V. punctata (or worn by women about the middle of the seven- teenth century. IMG:content-1866.jpg:[blocks in formation] Of swich matere made he many layes, Songes, compleintes, roundels, virelayes . Virelay. Round, Freeman's Song. Cotgrave, 1611. Virelay, a roundelay, Country-ballad, or Free mans song. Blount , 1670. And then the band of flutes began to play, To which a lady sung a virelay . virent (vi'rent), a. [L. viren(t-)s, ppr. of virere , be green, fresh, or vigorous. Cf. virid , verd, verdant , etc.] Green; verdant; fresh. In these, yet fresh and virent , they carve out the figures of men and women. Sir T. Browne , Vulg. Err., ii. 6. Vireo (vir'e-ō), n. [NL., Vireonidæ , and including most of the species of that family; the greenlets. See Vireonidæ , and cuts under IMG:content-1867.jpg:[ocr errors][ocr errors] IMG:content-1868.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-1869.jpg:[ocr errors] Also called Nocua , Than a top hid i a , Venenosa . It. verretta , veretta , a spear; prob. a contraction 2. More exactly, one of two suborders of Ophi- dia , containing venomous serpents related to the viper. It corresponds to the modern suborder Sole no glyph a , as distinguished from Proteroglypha , though of le exact definition than either of these. See cut un- der rattlesnake , and cuts cited under viper , 2. viperine (vi'pe-rin), a . and n. of Sp. vibora = Pg. vibora , a viper, = OF. * vivre , also wivre (> E. wiver ), F. givre , a serpent, viper, also an arrow, viper a , a viper: see viper and wiver . The supposed contraction may have been due to a ociation with OF. virer , turn.] 1. A bolt for a cro bow, feathered spirally so as to rotate in its flight. Also vireton . The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: The Century dictionary Vireo eastern United States, west regularly to the great plains and sometimes beyond, breeds in all its United States range, and winters from the Southern States to the West Indies and Guatemala. It abounds in shrubbery and tangle, is vivacious and sprightly, has a medley of voluble White-eyed Vireo ( Vireo noveboracensis). notes, and hangs its nest in a low bush. Scraps of newspaper usually enter into this fabric, whence the white-eye was nicknamed "the politician" by Wilson. This is one of the longest and best-known of its family, and was known to the earlier ornithologists as the green flycatcher (Pennant), hanging flycatcher (Latham), green wren (Bartram), etc. White-eyed vireos, like Maryland yellowthroats and summer yellowbirds, are among the most frequent foster parents of the cowbird. Also called white - eyed greenlet. Yellow-green vireo, V. flavoviridis, a near relative of the redeye and whip-tom-kelly, but yellower, of Mexico and over the United States border. - Yellow-throated vireo. See yellow - throated.