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reptile

noun

  1. class of animals
L41893 on Wikidata ↗

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).

  1. Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and short legs.
  2. 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).

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. An animal belonging to either the class Reptilia or the class Amphibia.
  4. A member of the class Reptilia, either including birds, or only those ectothermic sauropsid members with scales that typically lay eggs.
  5. An ectothermic, scaly animal, whether sauropsid or synapsid, of the clade Amniota.

    Prior to the 1990s, the non-mammalian synapsids were considered true reptiles.

  6. Any animal belonging to the clade Sauropsida, including those scaly animals as well as birds.
  7. 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!"