king snake

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various nonvenomous constricting New World snakes of the genus Lampropeltis, having a black or brown body with white, yellow, or reddish markings and feeding principally on rodents.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A large harmless serpent of the United States, Ophibolus getulus, and some related species, as O. sayi, of the family Colubridæ, spotted with jet-black and white or yellowish-white. It is regarded as an enemy of the rattlesnake, which it attacks and kills by constriction.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) a large, nearly black, harmless snake (Ophiobolus getulus) of the Southern United States; -- so called because it kills and eats other kinds of snakes, including even the rattlesnake.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any of numerous nonvenomous North American constrictors; feed on other snakes and small mammals
2. n. any of numerous nonvenomous North American constrictors; feed on other snakes and small mammals