worm snake
- noun
- /wɜrm sneɪk/
:
serpiente lombriz
- We lifted a rock and discovered a worm snake wriggling beneath it.
Examples
-
The worm snake spends most of its life burrowing in loose soil and leaf litter.
-
I spotted a worm snake under the log.
-
Because of its appearance, the worm snake is often mistaken for an earthworm by gardeners.
-
The worm snake is often mistaken for a worm.
-
The worm snake is commonly found hiding under rocks in gardens.
-
When we turned over the log, a worm snake slithered out quickly.
-
Gardeners often confuse the small, slender worm snake with a harmless worm.
Synonyms
A small reddish snake that looks like a worm and lives in eastern United States woodlands
A small reddish-brown snake found in moist woods of the eastern United States
A small burrowing snake in eastern North America that eats earthworms
A small snake that looks like a worm and lives underground
A family of small, worm-like blind snakes that live underground
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'worm snake' is a transparent descriptive compound whose meaning — a snake that looks like a worm or is very small and slender — is directly derivable from the constituents 'worm' and 'snake' with no idiomatic shift. This noun-noun compounding pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows regular compositional semantics, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Worm snake comes from how this creature looks and lives: it is thin and smooth like a worm and it moves like a little snake under stones and logs. So the name tells you it is a very small 'snake' often found in soil.
