serpent

«serpent» in Mova's school dictionary: A snake, especially a big one — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a serpent, serpents)

meaning for a pupil

1) (literary, old) A snake, especially a big one. tree →

2) In myths and stories, a huge snake-like monster such as a sea serpent. tree →

3) (old, figurative) A sly, tricky person who cannot be trusted. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories, myths and the Bible, serpents are often clever or dangerous; dragons and sea serpents appear in legends. In science lessons we say «snake». In maths stories, a serpent's length may be measured or compared. Phrases: «sea serpent», «a serpent's tongue».

examples

• The knight fought a giant serpent. tree →
• Sailors told tales of sea serpents. tree →
• The serpent hissed and slid under a rock. tree →
• In the story, a cunning serpent tricks the hero. tree →
• The serpent was 9 metres long, three times as long as the boat. tree →
• The river curved like a serpent through the valley. tree →
• But look! the serpent himself is coming!" tree →

note

Countable: serpents. Literary; everyday word: snake. Adjective: serpentine (winding like a snake). Sea serpents are legends, not real animals.

In the corpora

• The serpent persuaded Eve that God was keeping something good from her; she ate the fruit and gave some to Adam.
• After eating, Adam and Eve hid from God; Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.
• Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.
• And the woman said unto the serpent: 'Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
• And the serpent said unto the woman: 'Ye shall not surely die;

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «serpent» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.