RATTLESNAKE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rattlesnake mean? 

• RATTLESNAKE (noun)
  The noun RATTLESNAKE has 1 sense:

1. pit viper with horny segments at the end of the tail that rattle when shaken

  Familiarity information: RATTLESNAKE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RATTLESNAKE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pit viper with horny segments at the end of the tail that rattle when shaken

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

rattler; rattlesnake

Hypernyms ("rattlesnake" is a kind of...):

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

Meronyms (parts of "rattlesnake"):

rattle (loosely connected horny sections at the end of a rattlesnake's tail)

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

Crotalus adamanteus; diamondback; diamondback rattlesnake (large deadly rattlesnake with diamond-shaped markings)

banded rattlesnake; Crotalus horridus horridus; timber rattlesnake (widely distributed in rugged ground of eastern United States)

Crotalus viridis; prairie rattler; prairie rattlesnake; Western rattlesnake (widely distributed between the Mississippi and the Rockies)

Crotalus cerastes; horned rattlesnake; sidewinder (small pale-colored desert rattlesnake of southwestern United States; body moves in an s-shaped curve)

Crotalus atrox; Western diamondback; Western diamondback rattlesnake (largest and most dangerous North American snake; of southwestern United States and Mexico)

Crotalus lepidus; rock rattlesnake (mountain rock dweller of Mexico and most southern parts of United States southwest)

Crotalus tigris; tiger rattlesnake (having irregularly cross-banded back; of arid foothills and canyons of southern Arizona and Mexico)

Crotalus scutulatus; Mojave rattlesnake (extremely dangerous; most common in areas of scattered scrubby growth; from Mojave Desert to western Texas and into Mexico)

Crotalus mitchellii; speckled rattlesnake (markings vary but usually harmonize with background; of southwestern Arizona and Baja California)

massasauga; massasauga rattler; Sistrurus catenatus (pygmy rattlesnake found in moist areas from the Great Lakes to Mexico; feeds on mice and small amphibians)

ground rattler; massasauga; Sistrurus miliaris (small pygmy rattlesnake)

Holonyms ("rattlesnake" is a member of...):

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

 Context examples 

A specific complex of toxic proteins from the venom of Crotalus durissus terrificus (South American rattlesnake).

(Crotoxin, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Also called black snakeroot, bugbane, bugwort, and rattlesnake root.

(Black cohosh, NCI Dictionary)

Also called black cohosh, black snakeroot, bugwort, and rattlesnake root.

(Bugbane, NCI Dictionary)

Also called black cohosh, bugbane, bugwort, and rattlesnake root.

(Black snakeroot, NCI Dictionary)

Also called black cohosh, black snakeroot, bugbane, and rattlesnake root.

(Bugwort, NCI Dictionary)

He drew up lists of the most incongruous things and was unhappy until he succeeded in establishing kinship between them all—kinship between love, poetry, earthquake, fire, rattlesnakes, rainbows, precious gems, monstrosities, sunsets, the roaring of lions, illuminating gas, cannibalism, beauty, murder, lovers, fulcrums, and tobacco.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)