sidewinder

name

1. Formally the AIM-9 Sidewinder, first used by the US in 1956, one of the oldest, cheapest, and most successful short-range air-to-air missiles, still in use by many countries in the 2020s.

noun

Etymology: From side + winder (“one who winds or wends, traveller”), from the sideways, looping manner in which they move.

1. A North American rattlesnake, Crotalus cerastes, that inhabits lowland deserts.
2. A person who is untrustworthy and dangerous.
3. A heavy swinging blow from the side which disables an adversary.
4. A pitcher who throws sidearm.
5. A type of middle-distance deep-sea trawler widely used during the 1960s and 1970s.
6. A rollercoaster element where riders enter a half-loop followed by a half-corkscrew, and exit perpendicular to the direction of entry.

verb

Etymology: From side + winder (“one who winds or wends, traveller”), from the sideways, looping manner in which they move.

1. Synonym of sidewind.