viper
/ˈvaɪpɚ/ noun
Forms vipers
- noun A venomous snake in the family Viperidae.
- noun (informal) Any venomous snake.
- noun (figurative) A dangerous, treacherous, or malignant person.
- noun (slang) A person who smokes marijuana.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle French vipere, from Old French vipre, from Latin vīpera, contracted from vīvipara f (“viviparous”, adj.), from vīvus (“alive”, adj.) + parere (“to bear”, verb). Doublet of weever and wyvern.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any one of numerous species of Old World venomous makes belonging to Vipera, Clotho, Daboia, and other genera of the family Viperidæ.
- noun A dangerous, treacherous, or malignant person.
Etymology [F. vipère, L. vipera, probably contr. fr. vivipera; vivus alive + parere to bring forth, because it was believed to be the only serpent that brings forth living young. Cf. Quick, a., Parent, Viviparous, Wivern, Weever.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “viper”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details