reptilen.1
/ˈrɛptʌɪl/, U.S. /ˈrɛptl/, /ˈrɛpˌtaɪl/ 1. Originally: a creeping or crawling animal. In later use: spec. an animal of the vertebrate class Reptilia, the members of which are characterized by having a dry impervious skin covered in horny scales.The four orders of living reptiles comprise the snakes and lizards ( Squamata), the turtles and tortoises ( Testudines or Chelonia), the crocodilians ( Crocodylia), and the tuataras ( Rhynchocephalia). Among several extinct groups of reptiles which dominated life in the Mesozoic era are the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and therapsids.Living reptiles are all poikilothermic (cold-blooded). They are air-breathing and lack a gill-bearing larval phase, usually developing from soft-shelled amniote eggs laid on land (though ovovivipary is quite common). From a cladistic point of view the reptiles are a grade of vertebrates rather than a clade (see note at Reptilia n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by locomotion > [noun] > that creeps
wormc893
reptilea1393
serpentc1440
creeper1577
crawler1649
creepy-crawly1858
the world > animals > reptiles > [noun] > reptile
reptilea1393
serpentc1440
reptible1637
reptilian1838
reptiliform1890
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 1011 (MED) Every neddre and every Snake And every Reptil..assaieth..To crepen out ayein the Sonne, Whan Ver his Seson hath begonne.
a1425 Adam & Eve (Wheatley) in M. Day Wheatley MS (1921) 76 (MED) Be he souereyn..to ech creature & to ech reptile which is moued on þe erþe.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 133v Venenose reptilez [?c1425 Paris crepynge wormes; L. reptilia], i. crepyng bestes, blynded in þe erþe in wynter tyme, when þai goþ out of her cauez in ver, þai eteþ & froteþ her eien with it [sc. fennel] And þai recouer siȝt.
?1533 G. Du Wes Introductorie for to lerne Frenche sig. Bbiv v All beestes, byrdes, fysshes, reptyll them mouyng from place to other.
1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie iii. xxii. 168 Such Reptiles as hauing no feet doe with a kind of volublenesse make their way in the waters with many intricate doublings.
1634 R. H. tr. Regim. Salerni Pref. 2 We observe in Reptiles and other Creatures, that they most incline to that which most consorts with their Nature.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 388 God said, let the Waters generate Reptil with Spawn abundant. View more context for this quotation
1734 A. Pope Epist. to Arbuthnot 322 Eve's Tempter thus the Rabbins have exprest, A Cherub's face, a Reptile all the rest.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 172 When the animal is obliged to move, it drags itself forward like a reptile.
1825 G. Mantell in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 115 179 I avail myself of your obliging offer to lay before the Royal Society, a notice of the discovery of the teeth and bones of a fossil herbivorous reptile.
1863 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. 5 Of existing Vertebrates the number of species of Fishes is about 10,000; of Reptiles, 2000;..of Mammals, 2000.
1894 J. T. Fowler in St. Adamnan Vita S. Columbae Introd. 33 The former immunity of Ireland from reptiles.
1913 J. W. Jenkinson Vertebr. Embryol. iii. 47 In Birds and most Reptiles the outer layer of the shells is calcified, the inner layer being then known as the shell-membrane.
1937 Life 26 July 44/1 This last of ‘living fossils’, known to scientists as Sphenodon punctatus, has scarcely evolved through the ages and is the most primitive of reptiles.
1955 G. Cansdale Reptiles W. Afr. v. 78 Crocodiles are the largest reptiles alive to-day, and they belong to a family found throughout the tropics wherever there is suitable water.
1980 S. J. Gould Panda's Thumb (1982) xxvi. 273 In this so-called cladistic (or branching) system of taxonomy, dinosaurs cannot be reptiles unless birds are as well.
2006 Ecologist Feb. 49/1 Working by torchlight, Gordon grabs another wriggling reptile, whisks it through the air, and deftly eases it into a bulging sack.
2. figurative. A person of mean, grovelling, or contemptible character; a loathsome or repulsive person.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > baseness > base person > [noun]
houndOE
hinderlingc1175
whelpc1330
vilec1400
beasta1425
dog bolt1465
shake-rag1571
vassal1589
brock1607
shag-rag1611
shack-rag1612
slubberdegullion1612
baseling1618
shag1620
shab1637
slabberdegullion1653
whiffler1659
hang-dog1693
reptile1697
Nobodaddyc1793
skunk1816
spalpeen1817
tiger1827
soap-lock1840
shake1846
white mouse1846
sweep1853
shuck1862
whiffmagig1871
scrubber1876
ullage1901
jelly bean1905
heel1914
dirty dog1928
crud1932
crut1937
klunk1942
crudball1968
scumbag1971
bawbag1999
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > condition of being held in contempt > [noun] > state or quality of being contemptible > contemptible person
wormc825
wretchOE
thingOE
hinderlingc1175
harlot?c1225
mixa1300
villain1303
whelpc1330
wonnera1340
bismera1400
vilec1400
beasta1425
creaturec1450
dog bolt1465
fouling?a1475
drivel1478
shit1508
marmoset1523
mammeta1529
pilgarlica1529
pode1528
slave1537
slim1548
skit-brains?1553
grasshopper1556
scavenger1563
old boss1566
rag1566
shrub1566
ketterela1572
shake-rag1571
skybala1572
mumpsimus1573
smatchetc1582
squib1586
scabship1589
vassal1589
baboon1592
Gibraltar1593
polecat1593
mushroom1594
nodc1595
cittern-head1598
nit1598
stockfish1598
cum-twang1599
dish-wash1599
pettitoe1599
mustard-token1600
viliaco1600
cargo1602
stump1602
snotty-nose1604
sprat1605
wormling1605
brock1607
dogfly?1611
shag-rag1611
shack-rag1612
thrum1612
rabbita1616
fitchock1616
unworthy1616
baseling1618
shag1620
glow-worm1624
snip1633
the son of a worm1633
grousea1637
shab1637
wormship1648
muckworm1649
whiffler1659
prig1679
rotten egg1686
prigster1688
begged fool1693
hang-dog1693
bugger1694
reptile1697
squinny1716
snool1718
ramscallion1734
footer1748
jackass1756
hallion1789
skite1790
rattlesnake1791
snot1809
mudworm1814
skunk1816
stirrah1816
spalpeen1817
nyaff1825
skin1825
weed1825
tiger1827
beggar1834
despicability1837
squirt1844
prawn1845
shake1846
white mouse1846
scurf1851
sweep1853
cockroach1856
bummer1857
medlar1859
cunt1860
shuck1862
missing link1863
schweinhund1871
creepa1876
bum1882
trashbag1886
tinhorn1887
snot-rag1888
rodent1889
whelpling1889
pie eatera1891
mess1891
schmuck1892
fucker1893
cheapskate1894
cocksucker1894
gutter-bird1896
perisher1896
skate1896
schmendrick1897
nyamps1900
ullage1901
fink1903
onion1904
punk1904
shitepoke1905
tinhorn sport1906
streeler1907
zob1911
stink1916
motherfucker1918
Oscar1918
shitass1918
shit-face1923
tripe-hound1923
gimp1924
garbage can1925
twerp1925
jughead1926
mong1926
fuck?1927
arsehole1928
dirty dog1928
gazook1928
muzzler1928
roach1929
shite1929
mook1930
lug1931
slug1931
woodchuck1931
crud1932
dip1932
bohunkus1933
lint-head1933
Nimrod1933
warb1933
fuck-piga1935
owl-hoot1934
pissant1935
poot1935
shmegegge1937
motheree1938
motorcycle1938
squiff1939
pendejo1940
snotnose1941
jerkface1942
slag1943
yuck1943
fuckface?1945
fuckhead?1945
shit-head1945
shite-hawk1948
schlub1950
asswipe1953
mother1955
weenie1956
hard-on1958
rass hole1959
schmucko1959
bitch ass1961
effer1961
lamer1961
arsewipe1962
asshole1962
butthole1962
cock1962
dipshit1963
motherfuck1964
dork1965
bumhole1967
mofo1967
tosspot1967
crudball1968
dipstick1968
douche1968
frickface1968
schlong1968
fuckwit1969
rassclaat1969
ass1970
wank1970
fecker1971
wanker1971
butt-fucker1972
slimeball1972
bloodclaat1973
fuckwad1974
mutha1974
suck1974
cocksuck1977
tosser1977
plank1981
sleazebag1981
spastic1981
dweeb1982
bumboclaat1983
dickwad1983
scuzzbag1983
sleazeball1983
butt-face1984
dickweed1984
saddie1985
butt plug1986
jerkweed1988
dick-sucker1989
microcephalic1989
wankstain1990
sadster1992
buttmunch1993
fanny1995
jackhole1996
fassyhole1997
fannybaws2000
fassy2002
1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xvi. i. 297 On thy erected Head Much more unfortunate wretchednes doth grow Than ever made the vilest Reptile be The footstool of Contempt to sirlie thee.]
1697 J. Savage in tr. A. de Guevara Spanish Lett. Ep. Ded. sig. A2v The Humble Self-dejected Writer..must have continued a poor Groveling Reptile, expos'd to the Insults and Tramplings of Ignorance and Barbarity.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. x. i. 2 For a little Reptile of a Critic to presume to find fault with any of its Parts..is a most presumptuous Absurdity. View more context for this quotation
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 170. ⁋12 Reptiles whom their own servants would have despised, had they not been their servants.
1799 S. T. Coleridge Lett. (1895) 308 You ill-looking frog-voiced reptile!
1826 in W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 23 Sept. 779 These reptiles publish..a newspaper.
1834 H. Martineau Farrers of Budge-Row iv. 74 Those who shrink from looking fully and kindly even upon those who may be the reptiles of their race.
1883 Sat. Rev. 8 Dec. 725/1 The snob of this generation..is a much more odious reptile than he of the last.
1925 Titusville (Pa.) Herald 3 Aug. 6/4 She can't give a decent girl to that slimy reptile Provine.
1974 P. G. Wodehouse Aunts aren't Gentlemen v. 45 She spoke as follows, her manner and diction similar to those of a sergeant-major addressing recruits. ‘What's the matter with you, you poor reptile?’
1990 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 1 Dec. 43 He [sc. Denis Thatcher] has ranted against the ‘reptiles of the press’.
Compounds
C1. General attributive in sense 1. Cf. reptile adj. 1a.
ΚΠ
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) Divers of the Insect and Reptile Kind, are also Hermaphrodites; particularly Worms, Snails, &c.
1803 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. III. 88 The Viper is the only one either of the Reptile or Serpent tribes, in Great Britain, from whose bite we have any thing to fear.
1822 G. B. English Narr. Exped. Dongola & Sennaar 185 The reptile species in Sennaar are numerous. The houses are full of lizards, which, if you lie on the floor, you may feel crawling or running over you all night.
1872 Chambers's Encycl. VII. 202/2 The reptiles and reptile tracks in the Red Sandstone of Moray.
1888 Nature 19 Apr. 599/1 The Pterosaurian skull..resembles more the Lacertilian than any other type of Reptile skull.
1930 W. M. Mann Wild Animals in & out of Zoo xxi. 261 The tuatara, or Sphenodon,..was at two different periods the real star of our reptile collection.
1975 J. Ashbery Self-portrait in Convex Mirror 72 The skin of the bubble-chamber's as tough as Reptile eggs.
1997 A. Bourdain in K. Williamson Rovers Return (1998) 122 A secret language, where..‘gimme that fucking sautoir, you steaming puddle of reptile vomit’, means ‘hand me the pan, please.’
C2. Objective.† reptile-spawning adj. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1834 Tait's Edinb. Mag. New Ser. 1 232/1 A new marriage of reptile-spawning fraud and time.
C3.
reptile brain n. = reptilian brain n. at reptilian adj. and n. Compounds.
ΚΠ
1964 P. W. Napear Diary 28 July in Brain Child: Mother's Diary (1974) i. Have to tell Doris and David W. the truth—that Stuart and the baby are learning to creep in cross-pattern. It's clued in somehow to the midbrain, the reptile brain still in us.
1973 P. Grosvenor & J. McMillan Brit. Genius xl. 277 In the past million years of evolution man has grown a neo-cortex, a thin layer of ‘civilized’ brain over the old animal brain. And beneath the old animal brain lies a reptile brain.
1997 M. Fabi Wyrm xv. 408 Structurally and functionally, the newer parts of our brains like the neocortex are like a covering over the older reptile brain underneath.
2006 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 17 Sept. 37 Somewhere in the reptile brain of voters, where gut rules, there are plenty of reasons to hedge one's bets.
reptile house n. a building in a zoo or animal collection where reptiles are kept.
ΚΠ
1849 Lady's Newspaper 10 Mar. 137/2 What with giraffes and a young girafetta (a fortnight old), and a new reptile-house,..we hesitate not to give our warmest recommendation..to visit these gardens often.
1898 Nature 10 Feb. 341/2 Several varieties of these bipedal lizards are now on view in the Reptile House.
2005 S. Kilfeather Dublin iv. 117 John Supple..was found unconscious on the floor of the reptile house.
reptile oil n. rare oil obtained from reptiles; cf. snake oil n.
ΚΠ
1876 G. B. Goode Classif. Coll. Illustr. Animal Resources U.S. 52 Extraction of Bird and Reptile Oils.
2008 Re: Writing Assignments 2/20/08 in Radio UTD Writers (Usenet newsgroup) 20 Feb. 1-5 (stars, gramophones, skulls, kittens, bottles of reptile oil, whatever) with an option for a half ranking would make the ratings more consistent.
Derivatives
ˈreptile-like adv. and adj.
ΚΠ
1760 London Mag. July 355/1 He who, reptile like, can..transform himself.
1806 European Mag. & London Rev. Jan. 62/1 To the cowards and slaves who would, reptile like, crawl.
1873 W. Carleton Farm Ballads (1893) 119 Some reptile-like deed that coils plain in our sight.
a1924 J. Conrad Tales of Hearsay (1925) 41 The day before he had seen a reptile-like convoy of soldiery, bristling with bayonets, crawling over the face of that land which was his.
2001 New Scientist 13 Oct. 30/1 While their reptile-like forebears were much larger and were active during daytime,..early mammals gained their evolutionary foothold by hunting insects at night.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
reptilen.2
/ˈrɛptʌɪl/, U.S. /ˈrɛptl/, /ˈrɛpˌtaɪl/ Mathematics.
A two-dimensional figure of which two or more can be grouped together to form a larger figure having the same shape.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > shape or figure > [noun] > two-dimensional
figure1340
platform1551
rectilinear1682
flata1690
lineatea1690
reptile1963
1963 Sci. Amer. May 158/2 In 1962 Solomon W. Golomb..turned his attention to these ‘replicating figures’—‘rep-tiles’, as he calls them.
1966 S. W. Golomb in Jrnl. Combinatorial Theory 1 281 Certain polyominoes are ‘rep-tiles’, i.e., they can be used to tile enlarged scale models of themselves.
1972 C. S. Ogilvy Tomorrow's Math (ed. 2) iv. 73 The following are unproven conjectures... Every rep-tile also tiles a parallelogram... A rep-tile with five or more sides cannot be convex.
2000 Sci. Amer. May 111/1 An equilateral triangle, for example, is a rep-tile—four copies fit together to make a larger one—and it can generate remarkable patterns.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
reptileadj.
/ˈrɛptʌɪl/, U.S. /ˈrɛptl/, /ˈrɛpˌtaɪl/ a. Of an animal: creeping, crawling. Cf. reptant adj. 2. Frequently poetic. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by locomotion > [adjective] > creeping
reptile1607
repent1838
the world > movement > progressive motion > moving along with hands and feet or with body prone > [adjective] > creeping or crawling
creepingc1000
go-by-ground?a1300
crawlinga1400
rampinga1500
reptile1607
humiserpent1641
reptant1670
reptitious1742
acrawl1834
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 498 Some..thinke that they were so called because their outwarde forme representeth some such reptile creature.
1679 L. Hutchinson Order & Disorder 21 Each reptile thing That on her bosome creeps, the word obey'd.
1720 J. Gay Rural Sports i, in Poems I. 11 Cleanse them from filth, to give a tempting gloss, Cherish the sully'd reptile race with moss.
1727 J. Thomson Summer 25 Wak'd by his warmer Ray, the reptile Young Come wing'd abroad.
1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc ix. 183 Feel thine own worthlessness, A reptile worm.
1897 1st Nat. Congr. Mothers 30 When a woman in Zũni-land expects to become a mother, she is guarded from..reptile creatures.
b. Of a plant: creeping, repent (repent adj.2 1a). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > [adjective] > climbing, spreading, or creeping
running1548
spreading1560
flat1578
ramping1578
wandering1590
upcreeping1611
gadding1638
rambling1653
obsequious1657
reptant1657
scansive1657
scansory1657
procumbent1668
repent1669
scandenta1682
supine1686
scrambling1688
creeping1697
sarmentous1721
reptile1727
sarmentose1760
prostrate1773
trailing1785
decumbent1789
travelling1822
vagrant1827
sarmentaceous1830
humifuse1854
sarmentiferous1858
amphibryous1866
humistratous1880
climbing1882
clambering1883
1727 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Oeconomique (Dublin ed.) (at cited word) Capreolus, the..tendril by which the Vines and such like reptile plants fasten themselves.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) Reptile is likewise used, abusively, for Plants and Fruits which creep on the Earth, or on other Plants.
1750 Wonders Nature & Art I. i. ii. 131 The Vine, that noble plant or shrub of the reptile kind.
1797 T. F. Dibdin Poems 73 How shall each reptile plant decline the head, Or gaudier raise their stems thro' pomp and pride!
2. figurative. Low, mean; grovelling, obsequious; devious, underhand. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > unkindness > ill will, malevolence > [adjective]
hateleOE
balefulOE
swartOE
hatelyOE
ill-willinga1300
illc1330
ill-willeda1340
evil-willya1382
hatefula1400
malignc1429
malicea1500
maltalentivea1500
malevolent1509
malevolous1531
fiendisha1535
ill asposit1535
ill-givena1568
malignant1592
ill-affecteda1599
unpleasant1603
manless?1609
evil-affected1611
ill-willy1611
ill-meaning1633
ill-natured1645
swarthy1651
unbenign1651
reptile1653
sullen1676
maligning1687
unbenevolent1694
reptilian1855
unbenignant1856
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > low rank or condition > low or vulgar person > [adjective]
carlisha1240
lewdc1380
carlc1450
villain1483
ruffian1528
shake-ragged1550
porterlike1568
popular1583
ungracious1584
ordinarya1586
tapsterly1589
mechanic1598
round-headed1598
base-like1600
strummell-patch1600
porterly1603
scrubbing1603
vernaculous1607
plebeian1615
reptile1653
proletarian1663
mobbish1695
low1725
terraefilial1745
low-lifed1747
Whitechapel1785
lowlife1794
boweryish1846
gutter1849
bowery1852
lowish1886
swab1914
lumpen1944
1653 Z. Coke Art of Logick Ep. Ded. sig. a1 On the raised wings of whose perfections, the prone and Reptile Soul soars a pitch.
1661 T. Blount Glossographia (ed. 2) Reptile or Reptitious, that creeps; or, by privy means, gets to high estate.
1664 J. Evelyn tr. R. Fréart Parallel Antient Archit. Pref. 3 These low and reptile Souls [Fr. Les petits esprits].
1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the First 9 Wrapt round and round In silken thought, which reptile Fancy spun?
1744 R. North & M. North Life Sir D. North & Rev. J. North 284 He was forced to deal in low Concerns, and reptile Conceits that scarce rose from the Ground.
1818 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto IV cxxxvi. 71 The small whisper of the..paltry few, And subtler venom of the reptile crew.
1849 F. W. Robertson Serm. (1866) 1st Ser. viii. 134 He will creep and crawl before you to submit to any reptile meanness.
1889 Times 23 Nov. 5/3 The semi-official and reptile press..employed to insinuate charges against the Chief of the Staff.
1901 Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, New S. Wales) 1 May 1/2 From an evidently-inspired paragraph in one of our reptile contemporaries, we gather that the Sydney Turf Club propose for the future to issue an annual balance sheet.
1997 Irish Times (Nexis) 3 May Denis Thatcher, shambling around a golf course,..mumbling about reptile journalists.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > moving along with hands and feet or with body prone > [adjective] > creeping or crawling > of or relating to
reptile1683
1683 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 13 28 To each scale was appropriated a Rib..which must much advantage the use Nature seems to design them for, by strengthening them to perform their reptile motions.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) Its reptile Motion may also be explained by a Wier wound on a Cylinder.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 322 There they continue in a reptile state for a year.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1a1393
n.21963adj.1607