Hypertext Webster Gateway: "reptile"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Reptile \Rep"tile\, n.
1. (Zo["o]l.) An animal that crawls, or moves on its belly,
as snakes,, or by means of small, short legs, as lizards,
and the like.

An inadvertent step may crush the snail That crawls
at evening in the public path; But he that has
humanity, forewarned, Will tread aside, and let the
reptile live. --Cowper.

2. (Zo["o]l.) One of the Reptilia, or one of the Amphibia.

Note: The amphibians were formerly classed with Reptilia, and
are still popularly called reptiles, though much more
closely allied to the fishes.

3. A groveling or very mean person.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Reptile \Rep"tile\ (r?p"t?l;277), a. [F. reptile, L. reptilis,
fr. repere, reptum, to creep; cf. Lith. reploti; perh. akin
to L. serpere. Cf. {Serpent}.]
1. Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and
short legs.

2. Hence: Groveling; low; vulgar; as, a reptile race or crew;
reptile vices.

There is also a false, reptile prudence, the result
not of caution, but of fear. --Burke.

And dislodge their reptile souls From the bodies and
forms of men. --Coleridge.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

reptile
n : any cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia including
tortoises turtles snakes lizards alligators crocodiles
and extinct forms [syn: {reptilian}]


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