colubrine

[ kol-uh-brahyn, -brin, -yuh- ]
/ ˈkɒl əˌbraɪn, -brɪn, -yə- /

adjective

of or resembling a snake; snakelike.
belonging or pertaining to the subfamily Colubrinae, comprising the typical colubrid snakes.

Origin of colubrine

1520–30; < Latin colubrīnus, equivalent to colubr- (stem of coluber) snake + -īnus -ine1

Words nearby colubrine

coltish, colton, coltrane, coltsfoot, colubrid, colubrine, colugo, colum, columba, columbarium, columbary

Example sentences from the Web for colubrine

  • Perhaps the most curious of the colubrine snakes is the egg-eating snake of South Africa.

    The Animal World, A Book of Natural History |Theodore Wood

  • There is always the colubrine equivalent of the personal equation to be taken into consideration.

    Jungle Folk |Douglas Dewar

British Dictionary definitions for colubrine

colubrine
/ (ˈkɒljʊˌbraɪn, -brɪn) /

adjective

of or resembling a snake
of, relating to, or belonging to the Colubrinae, a subfamily of harmless colubrid snakes

Word Origin for colubrine

C16: from Latin colubrīnus, from coluber snake