water moccasin
3
9.1
- noun
- /ˈwɔːtər ˈmɒkəsɪn/
- US
:
mocasín de agua
- Water moccasins and copperheads love to get up in a tree with those low limbs that hang down in the water.
- water moccasin, or cottonmouth
- poisonous water moccasin
- copperheads and water moccasins
Examples
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The water moccasin is often found basking near the banks of freshwater lakes.
-
That's a water moccasin.
Fiction book (1999) -
And you know, there's water moccasins down there, too.
-
You got water moccasins... copperheads... diamondbacks, you name it, man.
-
There are cayman, fer-de-lance, and water moccasins.
Fiction book (1998) -
That's like asking me which I fear the most: a rattlesnake, a copperhead, or a water moccasin.
Blog text (24) -
The sun played on thin, rippling lines that spread from the small heads of snapping turtles and water moccasins, moving now and then like sticks in a current.
Fiction book (2002) -
While canoeing, we spotted a water moccasin slithering through the tall grass by the river.
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Local hikers were warned to be cautious of water moccasins while exploring the wetlands.
Synonyms
4
9.9
A dangerous water snake with a bright white mouth that lives in southern US swamps
A venomous water snake that lives in southern United States swamps, called the cottonmouth
A venomous water snake in southern US swamps with white inside its mouth
Surface Forms
Morphology
water + moccasin
Even if a learner knows 'water' and 'moccasin' (commonly a type of shoe), the compound meaning 'a large venomous snake' is not derivable from those constituents. This is a lexicalized animal name whose meaning must be learned as an idiomatically named species rather than composed from its parts.
Etymology
Water moccasin may come from people comparing the snake's thick, low body to a moccasin, a soft 'shoe', and the word water because it lives in rivers and swamps. So, the name points to a venomous snake that lives in fresh water today.