reptile
noun
- class of animals
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈɹɛp.taɪl/ / /ˈɹɛp.taɪəl/
adj
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).
- Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and short legs.
- Grovelling; low; vulgar.
“a reptile race or crew reptile vices”
“There is also a false, reptile prudence, the result not of caution, but of fear.”
noun
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).
- A cold-blooded, non-winged vertebrate tetrapod animal, typically scaly and of a species that lays eggs, such as a lizard or turtle, or a snake.
- 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.
- An animal belonging to either the class Reptilia or the class Amphibia.
- A member of the class Reptilia, either including birds, or only those ectothermic sauropsid members with scales that typically lay eggs.
- An ectothermic, scaly animal, whether sauropsid or synapsid, of the clade Amniota.
“Prior to the 1990s, the non-mammalian synapsids were considered true reptiles.”
- Any animal belonging to the clade Sauropsida, including those scaly animals as well as birds.
- An abject, grovelling, loathsome or repulsive person.
“This work may, indeed, be considered as a great creation of our own; and for a little reptile of a critic to presume to find fault with any of its parts, without knowing the manner in which the whole is connected, and before he comes to the final catastrophe, is a most presumptuous absurdity.”
“"That reptile," whispered Pott, catching Mr. Pickwick by the arm, and pointing towards the stranger. "That reptile — Slurk, of the Independent!"”