sidewinder

«sidewinder» in Mova's school dictionary: A small rattlesnake from the deserts of the south-western… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a sidewinder, sidewinders)

meaning for a pupil

1) A small rattlesnake from the deserts of the south-western USA and Mexico that moves sideways by throwing its body in loops across the sand. tree →

2) Any snake that moves this way (some vipers in African deserts do too). tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons about deserts and animal movement, sidewinding lets a snake move on loose, hot sand with only small parts of its body touching the ground, leaving J-shaped tracks. The sidewinder has little horns above its eyes. Phrases: «sidewinder rattlesnake», «sidewinding».

examples

• The sidewinder moved sideways across the hot sand. tree →
• Sidewinders leave J-shaped tracks in the desert. tree →
• Only a little of the sidewinder's body touches the sand at once. tree →
• The sidewinder is a small rattlesnake. tree →
• Sidewinders hunt lizards and mice at night. tree →
• Never go near a rattlesnake, even a small one. tree →

note

Countable. Related: «sidewind» (verb, rare), «sidewinding». Safety: the sidewinder is venomous — keep away and tell an adult. Also the name of a missile, but children rarely need that.

In the corpora

• The sidewinder snake moves sideways and touches the hot sand at only two points, leaving J-shaped tracks.

Trees and pragmatics

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