snakebird

American

[sneyk-burd] / ˈsneɪkˌbɜrd /

noun

anhinga.

snakebird British

/ ˈsneɪkˌbɜːd /

noun

another name for darter

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of snakebird

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95; snake + bird

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Its long neck resembles a snake ready to strike when the Anhinga - also called a snakebird - is swimming.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 26, 2011

The heron, the snakebird, and the redshank, waded through the shallow drifts; and geese, widgeon, teal, and mallard, rose whirring in the air at every step.

From The Highlands of Ethiopia by Harris, William Cornwallis

In Plotus, the snakebird, the pyloric chamber of the stomach is beset with a mass of hair-like stiff filaments which permit nothing but fluid to pass into the duodenum.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7 "Bible" to "Bisectrix" by Various

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023