asp

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Cleopatra learned from them, it is said, that the bite of the asp was the easiest and least painful mode of death.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Any of several venomous snakes of Africa, Asia, and Europe, such as the small cobra (Naja haje) or the horned viper (Cerastes cornutus).

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples

  • But the next morning we went to the quaking-asp thicket, and there, sure enough, we found the same band of elk, and succeeded in killing five of them. —  Thirty-One Years on the Plains and In the Mountains
  • The quaking-asp, balm and various other kinds of small timber that grew along the streams all helped to add to the beauty of the scene. —  Thirty-One Years on the Plains and In the Mountains
  • Cleopatra learned from them, it is said, that the bite of the asp was the easiest and least painful mode of death. —  Cleopatra
  • The molecule of the hormone, as obtained from swine pituitary, was found to consist of 18 amino acids in the following order: asp-glu-gly'pro-tyr-lys-met-glu-riis-phe-arg-try-gly-ser -- pro-pro-lys-asp MSH If you compare the molecule of MSH with that of ACTH given on page 83, you will see that there is a seven-amino-acid sequence that the two hold in common: met'glu'his-phe-arg'trygly. —  The Human Brain
  • "But the truth is that Mother was going to tell me that my memory wasn't lying to me, wasn't she, Dad? —  A Traitor to Memory
 

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Asp has been looked up 254 times, favorited 0 times, listed 13 times, and commented on 5 times.

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English aspis, from Latin, from Greek.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English asp, aspe, espe, from Anglo-Saxon *æsp, æspe, aspe, espe, transposed æps, = Dutch esp = Old High German aspa, Middle High German aspe, German espe = Icel, ösp, asp, espi, aspen wood, = Danish Swedish asp, asp; origin unknown. The English form aspen is properly an adjective: see aspen.
  2. In Middle English as L., aspis; Old French aspe = Provencal aspic (later F. aspic, later English aspic, q. v.) = Spanish aspid, aspide = Portuguese Italian aspide, from Latin aspis (aspid-), from Greek ἀσπίς (ἀσπιδ-), an asp, Egyptian viper.
 

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/æsp/
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