Crossword clues for amphisbaena
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Amphisbaena \Am`phis*b[ae]"na\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?; ? on both ends + ? to go.]
A fabled serpent with a head at each end, moving either way.
--Milton.-
(Zo["o]l.) A genus of harmless lizards, serpentlike in form, without legs, and with both ends so much alike that they appear to have a head at each, and ability to move either way. See Illustration in Appendix.
Note: The Gordius aquaticus, or hairworm, has been called an amphisb[ae]na; but it belongs among the worms. [1913 Webster] ||
Wiktionary
n. 1 A mythical serpent having a head at each end of its body, able to move in either direction. 2 A genus of lizards, native to the Americas, having extremities which are very similar.
n. (alternative form of amphisbaena English)
WordNet
n. (classical mythology) a serpent with a head at each end of its body
type genus of the Amphisbaenidae [syn: genus Amphisbaena, Amphisbaenia, genus Amphisbaenia]
[also: amphisbaenae (pl)]
Wikipedia
The amphisbaena (, plural: amphisbaenae) is a mythological, ant-eating serpent with a head at each end. The creature is alternately called the amphisbaina, amphisbene, amphisboena, amphisbona, amphista, amfivena, amphivena, or anphivena (the last two being feminine), and is also known as the "Mother of Ants". Its name comes from the Greek words amphis, meaning "both ways", and bainein, meaning "to go". According to Greek mythology, the amphisbaena was spawned from the blood that dripped from the Gorgon Medusa's head as Perseus flew over the Libyan Desert with it in his hand, after which Cato's army then encountered it along with other serpents on the march. Amphisbaena fed off of the corpses left behind. The amphisbaena has been referred to by various poets such as Nicander, John Milton, Alexander Pope, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, A. E. Housman and Allen Mandelbaum; as a mythological and legendary creature, it has been referenced by Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Isidore of Seville, and Thomas Browne, the last of whom debunked its existence.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the amphisbaena is a snake-like magical beast based upon the Amphisbaena of Greek Mythology.
Usage examples of "amphisbaena".
Ansalem was sitting on the stone couch again, apparently oblivious of the double-headed serpent, the amphisbaena, which shimmered in and out of view through him.
He found it hard to concentrate with the amphisbaena shifting in and out of the travertine couch.
I took Klestis out of time, and my acolytes knotted the amphisbaena to hold me in my chamber forever.
An amphisbaena, or snake with a head at either end, was particularly distinct.
You are worse than the asp that poisoned Cleopatra, worse than the horned viper whose deceits delight the birds then sacrificed to its hunger, worse than the amphisbaena that, on anyone it grasps, scatters such venom that in an instant he dies, worse than the dread leps that, armed with four venomous teeth, corrupts the flesh it bites, worse than the jacule that darts from trees and stran.
You are worse than the asp that poisoned Cleopatra, worse than the horned viper whose deceits delight the birds then sacrificed to its hunger, worse than the amphisbaena that, on anyone it grasps, scatters such venom that in an instant he dies, worse than the dread leps that, armed with four venomous teeth, corrupts the flesh it bites, worse than the jacule that darts from trees and strangles its victim, worse than the colubra that vomits its poison into fountains, worse than the basilisk that kills with his gaze!