PIT VIPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pit viper mean? 

• PIT VIPER (noun)
  The noun PIT VIPER has 1 sense:

1. New World vipers with hollow fangs and a heat-sensitive pit on each side of the head

  Familiarity information: PIT VIPER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PIT VIPER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

New World vipers with hollow fangs and a heat-sensitive pit on each side of the head

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("pit viper" is a kind of...):

viper (venomous Old World snakes characterized by hollow venom-conducting fangs in the upper jaw)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pit viper"):

Agkistrodon contortrix; copperhead (common coppery brown pit viper of upland eastern United States)

Agkistrodon piscivorus; cottonmouth; cottonmouth moccasin; water moccasin (venomous semiaquatic snake of swamps in southern United States)

rattler; rattlesnake (pit viper with horny segments at the end of the tail that rattle when shaken)

Bothrops atrops; fer-de-lance (large extremely venomous pit viper of Central America and South America)

Holonyms ("pit viper" is a member of...):

Crotalidae; family Crotalidae (New World vipers: pit vipers)

 Context examples 

A proteolytic enzyme and defibrinogenating agent derived from the venom of the Malayan pit viper, with profibrinolytic and anticoagulant activities.

(Ancrod, NCI Thesaurus)