Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small, variably colored rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus) of North America, often found in moist areas.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the small but very venomous rattlesnakes which inhabit prairies in the western United States and Territories, such as Crotalophorus tergeminus (Sistrurus catenatus).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) The black rattlesnake (Crotalus tergemina, or Caudisona tergemina), found in the Mississippi Valley.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The rattlesnake Crotalus catenatus or Sistrurus catenatus in the family Viperidae. It is found in three subspecies.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun pygmy rattlesnake found in moist areas from the Great Lakes to Mexico; feeds on mice and small amphibians
  • noun small pygmy rattlesnake

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After the Mississagi, a river of southeast Ontario, Canada.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ojibwe massasauga ("great river mouth").

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Examples

Comments

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  • mesmerized missed Mississippi

    February 10, 2012