Reptile

//ˈɹɛp.taɪl// adj, noun, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and short legs. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Grovelling; low; vulgar. not-comparable

    "a reptile race or crew    reptile vices"

Noun
  1. 1
    Any member of the class Reptilia that is not a bird— a cold-blooded vertebrate with dry scales that usually lays eggs, such as a lizard, snake, turtle, tortoise, crocodile, alligator, etc. informal
  2. 2
    any cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia including tortoises, turtles, snakes, lizards, alligators, crocodiles, and extinct forms wordnet
  3. 3
    Any member of Reptilia, including birds.
  4. 4
    A reptile or amphibian. broadly, historical
  5. 5
    A mean, grovelling, loathsome or repulsive person. dated, figuratively

    "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."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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).

Etymology 2

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).

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