Reptile
['reptaɪl] or ['rɛptaɪl]
Definition
(noun.) any cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia including tortoises, turtles, snakes, lizards, alligators, crocodiles, and extinct forms.
Checked by Beth--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and short legs.
(a.) Hence: Groveling; low; vulgar; as, a reptile race or crew; reptile vices.
(n.) An animal that crawls, or moves on its belly, as snakes,, or by means of small, short legs, as lizards, and the like.
(n.) One of the Reptilia, or one of the Amphibia.
(n.) A groveling or very mean person.
Inputed by Darlene
Definition
adj. moving or crawling on the belly or with very short legs: grovelling: low.—n. an animal that moves or crawls on its belly or with short legs: an oviparous quadruped: one of the class of Reptil′ia (n.pl.) occupying a central position in the Vertebrate series beneath them Amphibians and Fishes above them Birds and Mammals: a grovelling low person.—adjs. Reptil′ian belonging to reptiles; Reptilif′erous producing reptiles; Reptil′iform related to reptiles; Reptil′ious like a reptile.—n. Reptil′ium a place where reptiles are kept.—adjs. Reptiliv′orous feeding upon reptiles; Rep′tiloid reptile form.—Reptilian age (geol.) the Mesozoic age during which reptiles attained great development.
Editor: Stanton
Unserious Contents or Definition
If a reptile attacks you in a dream, there will be trouble of a serious nature ahead for you. If you succeed in killing it, you will finally overcome obstacles. To see a dead reptile come to life, denotes that disputes and disagreements, which were thought to be settled, will be renewed and pushed with bitter animosity. To handle them without harm to yourself, foretells that you will be oppressed by the ill humor and bitterness of friends, but you will succeed in restoring pleasant relations. For a young woman to see various kinds of reptiles, she will have many conflicting troubles. Her lover will develop fancies for others. If she is bitten by any of them, she will be superseded by a rival.
Edited by Ivan
Examples
- Such a creature as a reptile has in its brain a capacity for experience, but when the individual dies, its experience dies with it. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Moreover, at this instant, I had good reason to believe the provoking little reptile was actually in the arms of some frail, very frail, French woman. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- When next we find abundant traces of the land plants and the land animals of the earth, this great multitude of reptile species had gone. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Robert Jordan saw his eyes were yellow as a cat's and flat as reptile's eyes are. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- The reptile is on all fours with the seeding plant in its freedom from the necessity to pass any stage of its life cycle in water. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The reptile has come out of the water altogether. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Like a lurking reptile it leaped up at me as she eagerly bent forward towards the place in which I was sitting. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- That reptile Slurk, of the _Independent_! Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- I will— You d—d reptile! Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- That reptile,' whispered Pott, catching Mr. Pickwick by the arm, and pointing towards the stranger. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- The earliest known bird (the _Arch?opteryx_) had no beak; it had a row of teeth in a jaw like a reptile's. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Like a lurking reptile it dropped out of sight again as she instantly resumed her former position in the chair. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- There is by comparison the greatest carelessness about offspring in the reptile. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It deals with the explanation of earthquakes, tides, the virtues of plants, the fierce instincts of wil d animals, every species of stone, shrub, and reptile. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- They are often described as _flying_ reptiles, and pictures are drawn of Mesozoic scenery in which they are seen soaring and swooping about. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- There were no big land beasts at all; wallowing amphibia and primitive reptiles were the very highest creatures that life had so far produced. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- I tell you, my little reptiles, I am born to be served. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Hair was evidently the earliest distinction of the mammals from the rest of the reptiles. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Amidst this spreading vegetation of the lower plains the reptiles were increasing mightily in multitude and variety. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The ladders are thrown down, replied Rebecca, shuddering; the soldiers lie grovelling under them like crushed reptiles--The besieged have the better. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Must man, the heaven-climber, be for ever the victim of the crawling reptiles of his species! Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Darwin found the reptiles the most striking feature of the zo?logy of the islands. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- In fishes and reptiles, as Owen has remarked, The range of gradation of dioptric structures is very great. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Some reptiles, some vipers for example, are viviparous, but none stand by their young as the real mammals do. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- With frogs and amphibious reptiles the dormant state is very common, and if the temperature is kept low by artificial means they may remain dormant for years. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- On such expeditions rubber gatherers usually go armed with rifles to protect themselves against wild animals, reptiles and savage Indians. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- It is doubtful if the particular Theriodont reptiles who were developing hair in the early Mesozoic were viviparous. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- These were at first--by all the standards of classification--Reptiles. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- There were amphibia like gigantic newts and salamanders, and even primitive reptiles in these swamps. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Checked by Lilith