cobra
pronunciation
How to pronounce cobra in British English:
UK [ˈkəʊbrə]
How to pronounce cobra in American English:
US [ˈkoʊbrə]
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- Noun:
- venomous Asiatic and African elapid snakes that can expand the skin of the neck into a hood
Word Origin
- cobra
- cobra: [19] Cobra is a shortening of Portuguese cobra de capella, which came into English in India in the 17th century. This meant literally ‘snake with a hood’: cobra from Latin colubra ‘snake’ and capella (referring of course to the ‘hood’ it makes when agitated, by spreading out the skin at the side of its head) from Vulgar Latin *cappellus ‘little cape’, from late Latin cappa ‘hood’.=> cap, cape, chapel, chaperon
- cobra (n.)
- 1802, short for cobra capello (1670s), from Portuguese cobra de capello "serpent (of the hood)," from Latin colubra "a snake, female serpent" (source of French couleuvre "adder"), which is of uncertain origin. So called for the expandable loose skin about its neck. The word came to English via Portuguese colonies in India, where the native name is nag (see naga).
Example
- 1. Turkey wants more from its american friends , including cobra attack helicopters and armed reaper drones .
- 2. He collects antique samurai swords , has owned a pet cobra and speaks with a high-flown massachusetts brahmin accent .
- 3. The mongoose 's quick reflexes help it dodge the cobra 's defensive bite , and its powerful jaws can dispatch a snake in one blow .
- 4. A set of changes in the mongoose 's receptor makes it resemble the cobra 's own resistant receptor .
- 5. Biochemists have carefully mapped exactly how neurotoxins block the acetylcholine receptor of many species , and they have discovered that the toxins do not bind to the cobra 's receptor .