water snake
2
3.5
- noun
- /ˈwɔːtər sneɪk/
:
serpiente de agua
- We swam in the quiet, scrambling out for a while whenever a black water snake floated past.
- a harmless water snake
- see a water snake
- a large water snake
Examples
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The children were thrilled to see a water snake basking on a rock by the pond.
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As many as 10,000 water snakes are fished from Tonle Sap Lake each day.
Academic text (2007) -
It's just a water snake, it's not gonna hurt anybody!
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I thought I saw a water snake.
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Is that a water snake?
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See any water snakes out there?
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The larger ones looked more like water snakes.
Fiction book (1991) -
Hey, that's not a water snake I see over there, is it?
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OK, Floodwaters are bringing alligators and water snakes into people's neighborhoods.
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She's green, and sort of shiny, and covered in scales, sort of like a lizard or maybe a water snake.
Fiction book (1993)
Synonyms
A harmless snake with dark bands that lives near rivers and lakes in the western United States
A snake that is not venomous and lives near fresh water in the western United States
A group of water snakes like the grass snake that live near rivers and are not poisonous
A thin North American snake with a yellow stripe often near water
How Aquatic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'any of various snakes that inhabit or are often found near water' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'water' (a body of water) with 'snake' (a limbless reptile), yielding a snake associated with water. This compound follows a common descriptive noun-noun pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Water snake comes from the clear picture of a snake that lives in water; people joined the two words to name snakes often seen at lakes, rivers, or ponds. So, water snake means a snake 'found near or in water', usually not dangerous.