ext_147905 (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
prettygoodword.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
1word1day2015-09-10 07:52 am
prettygoodword.livejournal.com) wrote in 1word1day2015-09-10 07:52 am
Thursday word: colubrine
colubrine (KOL-uh-brin) - adj., of or resembling a snake.
Snakelike! Sometimes, specifically, of or related to the snake subfamily Colubrinae, which includes king snakes and rat snakes, or even just the genus Coluber. Sometimes, more generally and metaphorically, meaning cunning or crafty -- though this is a literary and almost obsolete sense, and is odd given most of the colubrine snakes are entirely harmless, unless you happen to stumble upon a cobra. Adopted around 1520 from Latin colubrīnus, from coluber, snake + an adjectival ending.
It is immune to viper poison but it is not immune to colubrine poison.
---L.
Snakelike! Sometimes, specifically, of or related to the snake subfamily Colubrinae, which includes king snakes and rat snakes, or even just the genus Coluber. Sometimes, more generally and metaphorically, meaning cunning or crafty -- though this is a literary and almost obsolete sense, and is odd given most of the colubrine snakes are entirely harmless, unless you happen to stumble upon a cobra. Adopted around 1520 from Latin colubrīnus, from coluber, snake + an adjectival ending.
It is immune to viper poison but it is not immune to colubrine poison.
---L.