Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A genus of Indian vipers, of the family Viperidæ, including venomous solenoglyph forms of small size, having fewer ventral scutes than the African vipers, simple subcaudal scutes, imbricated carinate scales on the head, in two rows between the eyes and the labial plates, and small nostrils in a large divided nasal plate. E. carinata is a common species, 20 inches or less in length. Merrem, 1820. Called
Toxicoa by Gray.
Etymologies
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Examples
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The capture of venomous snakes has dramatically reduced the numbers of rare species such as the Central Asian cobra (Naja naja oxiana) and sand echis (Echis carinatus) as well as many common species.
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But the serpent was also called _ahi_ in Sanskrit, in Greek _echis_ or _echidna_, in Latin _anguis_.
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 4, August, 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various
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Darwin speaks of the hissing of certain snakes, the rattle of the rattle-snake, the grating of the scales of the echis, each of which serves to frighten or terrify the enemy.
The Human Side of Animals Royal Dixon 1923
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Nevertheless, as he nameth them viperas, so he calleth the male echis, and the female echidna, concluding in the end that echis is the same serpent which his countrymen to this day call ein atter, as I have also noted before out of a Saxon dictionary.
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Vritra, the 'holding' snake (_áhi_ = [Greek: echis]), Çushna
The Religions of India Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris Jastrow Edward Washburn Hopkins 1894
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_echis_. and the female _echidna_, concluding in the end that _echis_ is the same serpent which his countrymen to this day call _ein atter_, as I have also noted before out of a Saxon dictionary.
Chronicle and Romance (The Harvard Classics Series) Thomas Malory Jean Froissart
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