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Rattlesnake   /rˈætəlsnˌeɪk/   Listen
noun
Rattlesnake  n.  (Zool.) Any one of several species of venomous American snakes belonging to the genera Crotalus and Caudisona, or Sistrurus; sometimes also called rattler. They have a series of horny interlocking joints at the end of the tail which make a sharp rattling sound when shaken. The common rattlesnake of the Northern United States (Crotalus horridus), and the diamondback rattlesnake (also called diamondback rattler, and diamondback) of the South and East (Crotalus adamanteus) and West (Crotalus atrox), are the best known.
Ground rattlesnake (Zool.), a small rattlesnake (Caudisona miliaria or Sistrurus miliaria) of the Southern United States, having a small rattle. It has nine large scales on its head.
Rattlesnake fern (Bot.), a common American fern (Botrychium Virginianum) having a triangular decompound frond and a long-stalked panicle of spore cases rising from the middle of the frond.
Rattlesnake grass (Bot.), a handsome American grass (Glyceria Canadensis) with an ample panicle of rather large ovate spikelets, each one composed of imbricated parts and slightly resembling the rattle of the rattlesnake. Sometimes called quaking grass.
Rattlesnake plantain (Bot.), See under Plantain.
Rattlesnake root (Bot.), a name given to certain American species of the composite genus Prenanthes (Prenanthes alba and Prenanthes serpentaria), formerly asserted to cure the bite of the rattlesnake. Called also lion's foot, gall of the earth, and white lettuce.
Rattlesnake's master (Bot.)
(a)
A species of Agave (Agave Virginica) growing in the Southern United States.
(b)
An umbelliferous plant (Eryngium yuccaefolium) with large bristly-fringed linear leaves.
(c)
A composite plant, the blazing star (Liatris squarrosa).
Rattlesnake weed (Bot.), a plant of the composite genus Hieracium (Hieracium venosum); probably so named from its spotted leaves. See also Snakeroot.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Rattlesnake" Quotes from Famous Books



... two flags floating from an improvised flagstaff on top of the court-house. One was the flag of the State, with its pillars, its sentinel, and its legend of "Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation." The design of the other was entirely new to Little Compton. It was a pine tree on a field of white, with a rattlesnake coiled at its roots, and the inscription, "DON'T TREAD ON ME!" A few hours later Uncle Abner Lazenberry made his appearance in front of Compton's store. He had just hitched his horse to the ...
— Free Joe and Other Georgian Sketches • Joel Chandler Harris

... a gray cloud purples with the sunrise. This rock was tossed lightly on edge when the earth was young, and stands vertical. To get the flowers you climb the mountain to one side, and, balancing on the rock's thin edge, slip down by roots and past rattlesnake dens till you hang out over the water and reach for them. To avoid snakes it is best to go when ...
— 'Hell fer Sartain' and Other Stories • John Fox, Jr.

... so absolutely graceful as a rattlesnake, and none more gentle in intention. It is only against imposition that he protests. Our forefathers had learned a not unworthy lesson from their contact with nature in the New World when they put upon the first flag of the colonies a rattlesnake, with the Latin legend, Nemo me impune lacessit—"No ...
— The Junior Classics Volume 8 - Animal and Nature Stories • Selected and arranged by William Patten

... warriors sat; or in front of the broad dais were great images of the full and the half moon, colored white or black; or rudely carved and painted figures of the panther, and of men with buffalo horns. The tribes held in reverence both the panther and the rattlesnake. ...
— The Winning of the West, Volume One - From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1769-1776 • Theodore Roosevelt

... being led into the open starlight; fifteen, and they were away at a lunging bronco lope, a twisting column of twos along the sandy road, leaving the garrison to wake and wonder. Three, four, five miles they sped, past Boulder Point, past Rattlesnake Hill, and still no sign of anything amiss, no symptom of night-raiding Apache, for indeed the Apache dreads the dark. Thrice the sergeant had sprung from his horse, lighted a match, and studied the trail. On ...
— An Apache Princess - A Tale of the Indian Frontier • Charles King


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