Reptile

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Reptile \Rep"tile\ (r?p"t?l;277), a. [F. reptile, L. reptilis,
     fr. repere, reptum, to creep; cf. Lith. reploti; perh. akin
     to L. serpere. Cf. {Serpent}.]
     1. Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and
        short legs.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. Hence: Groveling; low; vulgar; as, a reptile race or crew;
        reptile vices.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              There is also a false, reptile prudence, the result
              not of caution, but of fear.          --Burke.
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              And dislodge their reptile souls
              From the bodies and forms of men.     --Coleridge.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Reptile \Rep"tile\, n.
     1. (Zool.) An animal that crawls, or moves on its belly, as
        snakes,, or by means of small, short legs, as lizards, and
        the like.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              An inadvertent step may crush the snail
              That crawls at evening in the public path;
              But he that has humanity, forewarned,
              Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.
                                                    --Cowper.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Zool.) One of the Reptilia, or one of the Amphibia.
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     Note: The amphibians were formerly classed with Reptilia, and
           are still popularly called reptiles, though much more
           closely allied to the fishes.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A groveling or very mean person.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  reptile
       n : any cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia including
           tortoises turtles snakes lizards alligators crocodiles
           and extinct forms [syn: {reptilian}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  129 Moby Thesaurus words for "reptile":
     Gila monster, Reptilia, agama, alligator, amphibian, anguine,
     animal, anole, aquatic, atiptoe, batrachian, bearded lizard, beast,
     biped, blindworm, box turtle, butterfly agama, canine, cannibal,
     carnivore, cayman, chameleon, clawback, colubriform, cosmopolite,
     crawling, creature, creeping, crocodile, crocodilian, cur,
     diamondback, dinosaur, dog, dragon, false map turtle, feline,
     flying dragon, froggy, gator, gavial, gecko, girdle-tailed lizard,
     glass snake, gnawer, green turtle, groveler, hawksbill,
     hawksbill turtle, herbivore, hound, hyena, iguana, insect,
     insectivore, invertebrate, leatherback, lickspittle, lizard,
     lizardlike, mammal, mammalian, marsupial, marsupialian, matamata,
     minion, mongrel, monitor, mugger, omnivore, on all fours,
     on tippytoe, on tiptoe, ophidian, pig, polecat, primate, quadruped,
     repent, reptant, reptatorial, reptilelike, reptilian, reptiliform,
     reptiloid, rodent, ruminant, saurian, scavenger, sea turtle,
     serpent, serpentiform, serpentile, serpentine, serpentlike,
     serpentoid, skunk, slithering, snake, snakelike, snaky,
     soft-shelled turtle, stump tail, swine, teju, terrapin, tippytoe,
     tiptoe, tiptoeing, toad, toadeater, toadish, toady, tortoise,
     tuatara, turtle, ungulate, varmint, vermin, vertebrate, viper,
     viperiform, viperish, viperlike, viperoid, viperous, vipery, whelp,
     worm