Reptile Meaning
/ˈɹɛp.taɪl/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny member of the class Reptilia that is not a bird— a cold-blooded vertebrate with dry scales that usually lays eggs, such as a lizard, snake, turtle, tortoise, crocodile, alligator, etc.
nounA cold-blooded, non-winged vertebrate tetrapod animal, typically scaly and of a species that lays eggs, such as a lizard or turtle, or a snake.
Sentence Examples
A scaly is like a furry whose "fursona" is a reptile or amphibian.
A scalie is like a furry whose "fursona" is a reptile or amphibian.
Smite his hard heart, and shake his reptile soul.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The cold-blooded animal with scales and no fur is a ____, not a bird or mammal.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ basked on the warm rock in the afternoon sun, barely moving for several hours.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English reptil, from Old French reptile, from Late Latin rēptile, neuter of reptilis (“creeping”), from Latin rēpō (“to creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *rep- (“to creep, slink”) (Pokorny; Watkins, 1969).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"This work may, indeed, be considered as a great creation of our own; and for a little reptile of a critic to presume to find fault with any of its parts, without knowing the manner in which the whole is connected, and before he comes to the final catastrophe, is a most presumptuous absurdity."
— 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
""That reptile," whispered Pott, catching Mr. Pickwick by the arm, and pointing towards the stranger. "That reptile — Slurk, of the Independent!""
— 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
"[…] If I pitied you for crying and looking so very frightened, you should spurn such pity. Ellen, tell him how disgraceful this conduct is. Rise, and don’t degrade yourself into an abject reptile—don’t!"
— 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XXVII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
"There is also a false, reptile prudence, the result not of caution, but of fear."
— 1795–1797, Edmund Burke, “(please specify |letter=1 to 4)”, in [Letters on a Regicide Peace], London: [Rivington]:
"My herald shall appoint a week, / And let the recreant traitors seek / My tournay court—that there and then / I may dislodge their reptile souls / From the bodies and forms of men!"
— 1800, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Christabel. Part II.”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, →OCLC, page 34:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The cold-blooded animal with scales and no fur is a ____, not a bird or mammal.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ basked on the warm rock in the afternoon sun, barely moving for several hours.