Boa

//ˈboʊ.ə// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of a group of large American snakes, of the genus Boa, subfamily Boinae, or family Boidae, including the boa constrictor and the emperor boa of Mexico.
  2. 2
    A member of a Bwa-speaking ethnic group of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  3. 3
    Abbreviation of basin of attraction; the gravitational center of a supercluster of galaxies; a Great Attractor. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, initialism
  4. 4
    any of several chiefly tropical constrictors with vestigial hind limbs wordnet
  5. 5
    A type of long scarf; typically made from synthetic or real feathers (or occasionally fur), and usually worn by being draped across the shoulders with the ends hanging low, sometimes also with a loop around the neck.

    "Do not take up your boa as if it were the rope with which you meant to hang yourself; nor wrap your shawl round you as if it were your shroud."

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  1. 6
    a long thin fluffy scarf of feathers or fur wordnet

Etymology

From Middle English boa, from Latin boa (“large snake”), a species of serpent mentioned in Pliny's Naturalis Historia (Natural History). The scarf was named attributively, for its resemblance to the snake when worn.

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