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Glite Dictionary
tow-headed snake

tow-headed snake

9.9
A harmless pale snake with smooth, rubbery skin that lives in grass and woods
  • noun
  • /ˈtoʊˌhɛdɪd sneɪk/
  • US
translation icon : boa de goma
  • While hiking, we spotted a tow-headed snake basking in the sun near some tall grass.

Examples

  • The tow-headed snake is often mistaken for a worm because of its smooth skin and blunt tail.

  • Children are sometimes fascinated by the harmless tow-headed snake due to its soft, rubbery appearance.

  • The tow-headed snake slithered through the grass.

  • Have you ever seen a tow-headed snake in the wild?

  • Children are sometimes fascinated by the harmless tow-headed snake due to its soft, rubbery appearance.

  • While hiking, we spotted a tow-headed snake basking in the sun near some tall grass.

  • The tow-headed snake is often mistaken for a worm because of its smooth skin and blunt tail.

Synonyms

rubber boa
vstow-headed snake
  • US
9.0

A small harmless snake with smooth, shiny skin and a tail that looks like its head

is a regional descriptive label focusing on habitat and appearance rather than species name
Charina bottae
vstow-headed snake
  • Specialized
9.9

A small, not poisonous snake with smooth, rubbery skin and a blunt head and tail, from western North America

is the everyday descriptive name that highlights habitat and look not the Latin name

Surface Forms

tow-headed snake singular
tow-headed snakes plural

Morphology

tow-headed + snake

The noun phrase is compositionally built from an adjectival descriptor for the head ('tow-headed' = having a tow/flaxen-coloured head) plus 'snake', so its meaning — a snake with a pale/flaxen-coloured head — follows directly from the constituents. Note that 'tow-headed' is a rare/archaic adjective and may be unknown to many B1 learners, but given knowledge of the constituent parts the compound is transparent rather than idiomatic.

Etymology

The name tow-headed snake comes from tow, a word for pale, straw-like fibers, and headed, meaning 'having a head like that'. So the name paints a picture of a snake with a pale, straw-coloured head, which helps you remember this small, harmless, smooth-looking snake.