Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Either of two nonvenomous, semiaquatic snakes (Eunectes murinus or E. noteus) of tropical South America that kill their prey by suffocating it in their coils. E. murinus, the giant anaconda, can attain lengths from 5 to 9 meters (16.4 to 29.5 feet).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A very large serpent of Ceylon, a kind of python, variously identified as Python reticulatus, or P. molurus, or P. tigris; hence, some Indian species of that genus. Also called pimbeva and rock-snake.
- n. Used mistakenly by Daudin as the specific name of a large serpent of South America, Boa murina (Linnæus), B. anacondo (Daudin), now generally known as Eunectes marinus; hence, some large South American boa, python, or rock-snake. In zoology the name is becoming limited to the Eunectes murinus.
- n. In popular language, any enormous serpent which is not venomous, but which envelops and crushes its prey in its folds; any of the numerous species of the families Boidæ and Pythonidæ; any boa constrictor. Anacondas are found in the tropical countries of both hemispheres, and are generally blotched with black, brown, and yellow. Some are said to attain a length of npward of 30 feet, but they are usually found of a length between 12 and 20 feet. They are not venomous, but possess great constricting powers, the larger specimens being able to crush and swallow such quadrupeds as the tiger and jaguar. One of the species found in Brazil is there called
sucuriu or sucuriuba. The name has been popularly applied to all the larger and more powerful snakes. The orthography of the word has settled into anaconda.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of various large nonvenomous snakes of the genus Eunectes, found mainly in northern South America. Their length can grow to as much as 5 m (15 ft).
- n. by extension, slang, vulgar Penis.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) A large South American snake of the Boa family (Eunectes murinus), which lives near rivers, and preys on birds and small mammals. The name is also applied to a similar large serpent (Python tigris) of Ceylon.
WordNet 3.0
- n. large arboreal boa of tropical South America
Etymologies
- From the Sinhalese (henakandaya, "one with large body"), a species of constrictor found in Sri Lanka. (Wiktionary)
- Perhaps alteration of Sinhalese henakandayā, whip snake. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I was bit by an anaconda, which is in the constrictor family.”
“The anaconda is a little too ill-tempered for me.”
“Twice smaller anacondas had attacked his dogs; one was carried under waterfor the anaconda is a water-loving serpentbut he rescued it.”
“Twice smaller anacondas had attacked his dogs; one was carried under water -- for the anaconda is a water - loving serpent -- but he rescued it.”
“In the country near Rio there are great snakes called the anaconda,”
“In the country near Rio there are great snakes called the anaconda, a sort of boa-constrictor on a large scale.”
“To examine the anaconda, which is the heaviest species of snake in the world, Riddle was held horizontally by the zookeepers in the hallway in front of his exhibit while his eyes, mouth, and body were looked over.”
“He adopted with success the "anaconda" system of strategy, and hemmed in the insurgents at every point, closing in the mountain-passes, and completely isolating them.”
“It upheld the wounded snake, 'anaconda' system, it opposed the using of contrabands in any way, it urged, heart and soul, the protection of the property of rebels, it warred on confiscation in any form, it was ready with a negative to every proposition to energetically push the war, and finally its press is now opposing the settling our soldiers on the cotton-lands of the South.”
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No 3, September, 1862 Devoted to Literature and National Policy.
“Outbuilding the South of course meant tightening the "anaconda" system of blockade, in the entangling coils of which the South was caught already.”
Captains of the Civil War; a chronicle of the blue and the gray
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘anaconda’.
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Snakes
python, adder, snake, asp, cobra, bull snake, copperhead, sea snake, viper, boa, cottonmouth, rattlesnake and 15 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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kant's Words
mandrágora, doppelganger, sinestesia, baladí, adriático, chanson, correveidile, angster, dèja vu, otredad, grasshopper, republic and 1074 more...
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Animals With Nifty Names
hamster, gerbil, ferret, horse, skink, newt, shark, octopus, weasel, panda, giraffe, hyena and 129 more...
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Critters
cockle, cicada, appaloosa, brachiopod, bivalve, aye-aye, cygnet, alewife, chamois, ermine, drake, dugong and 381 more...
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animalia
Creatures with interesting names/lives.
salamander, badger, varmint, wombat, skink, tortoise, pika, gnu, pangolin, porpoise, serval, walrus and 53 more...
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A Day at the Zoo
Being animals, not necessarily limited to those commonly found in zoos.
chimpanzee, gorilla, elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, lion, tiger, bear, boa constrictor, cobra, monkey and 18 more...
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zoology
animals of interest
sloth, kakapo, kaka, hoatzin, numbat, wombat, hyena, wallaby, emu, morepork, jackdaw, magpie and 73 more...
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at the zoo
platypus, reindeer, ermine, penguin, grouse, vulture, boa, mouse, moose, snake, rattler, bat and 63 more...
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dabear's Words
sesquipedalian, tatterdemalion, carnal, chicane, messerschmidt, anaconda
Tweets
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