Serpent

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·noun The constellation Serpens.

II. Serpent ·noun Fig.: A subtle, treacherous, malicious person.

III. Serpent ·vt To Wind; to Encircle.

IV. Serpent ·vi To wind like a serpent; to crook about; to Meander.

V. Serpent ·noun A species of firework having a serpentine motion as it passess through the air or along the ground.

VI. Serpent ·noun Any reptile of the order Ophidia; a snake, especially a large snake. ·see ·Illust. under Ophidia.

VII. Serpent ·noun A bass wind instrument, of a loud and coarse tone, formerly much used in military bands, and sometimes introduced into the orchestra;

— so called from its form.