reptile
/ˈɹɛp.taɪl/ noun, adjective
Forms reptiles
- noun A (typically scaly and egg-laying) cold-blooded vertebrate tetrapod animal, of the class Reptilia (excluding birds), such as a lizard, turtle, snake, crocodile, alligator, etc.
- noun (zoology) Any member of the class Reptilia, including birds.
- noun (dated) Any creeping or crawling animal, one that moves along close to the ground on its belly or on short legs, such as a lizard, snake, salamander, frog, toad, or scorpion.
- noun (dated) An animal belonging to either the class Reptilia or the class Amphibia.
- noun (dated, proscribed) An ectothermic, scaly animal, whether sauropsid or synapsid, of the clade Amniota. “Prior to the 1990s, the non-mammalian synapsids were considered true reptiles.”
- noun (figuratively, dated) An abject, grovelling, loathsome or repulsive person.
- adjective Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and short legs.
- adjective Grovelling; low; vulgar. “a reptile race or crew reptile vices”
Synonyms
herptile herp creeper reptilious creeping crawling reptitious despicable reptilian
Etymology
From Middle English reptil, from Old French reptile, from Late Latin rēptile, neuter of reptilis (“creeping”), from Latin rēpō (“to creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *rep- (“to creep, slink”) (Pokorny; Watkins, 1969).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and short legs.
- adjective Hence: Groveling; low; vulgar; as, a reptile race or crew; reptile vices.
- noun An animal that crawls, or moves on its belly, as snakes,, or by means of small, short legs, as lizards, and the like.
- noun One of the Reptilia, or one of the Amphibia.
Etymology [F. reptile, L. reptilis, fr. repere, reptum, to creep; cf. Lith. reploti; perh. akin to L. serpere. Cf. Serpent.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “reptile”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details