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VIPER.
1613 J. Taylor (Water P.) it-'aUr/ntns Sidf Wks. (1630)
173, I will regard such Vipers and their slander ho little,
that their malice [etc.]. 1649-4 Vicars God in Mount (1844)
149 That most mischievous Viper of our Church & State
too, Mathcw Wren Bp. of Elie. 1693 Drvden Juvenal \\,
8j6, I (she confesses) in the Fact was cautiht; I'wo Sons
dispatchingt at one deadly Draught. What Two, Two
Sons, thou Viper, in one day? 1S19 Shf.llev Cenct i. iii.
165 Cenci {to Beatrice), 'I'hou -painted viper! Beast that
thou art I Fair and yet terrible ! 183a Warren Diary
I. ate Physic. II. ii. 85 ' Cannot this infamous scoundrel [>e
brought to justice?' * I inquired. If he were, he may
pfovc, perhaps, not worth powder and shot, the viper ! ' 1846
ftlRS. A. Marsh Father Darcy II. iv. 85 *What a genera-
tion of vipers !
' thought he, ' what a hydra brood of oppressors
I' 1850 Mabsden Early Purit. (1853) 403 The
seditious carriage of some vipers of the lower house.
3. Jn other figurative or allusive uses: fa. In
allusion to the supposition that the female viper
was killed by her young eating their way out at
birth. Ohs.
Cf. Pliny NaU Hist. x. Ixn. 82.
1601 B. JoNsoN Pottaster v. iii, Out viper, thou that cat'^t
1
thy parents, hence I 1608 Shaks. Pen 1. i.64, 1 am no viper,
yet I feed "
On mother's flesh which did me breed.
b. In allusion to the fable of the viper reared
or revived in a person's bosom : One who betrays
or is false to those who have supported or
nourished him ;
Snake sb. 2 a.
a false or treacherous person, Cf.
Partly after the similar L. uses, in sinu7e fresh, is a sovereign remedy
against the stinging of bees. .and other venomous insects.
1776 G. White Selbome 20 April, This little fry [of fifteen
vipersj issued into the world with the true viper spirit about
them. 1S43 /Vwwv O'tV. XXVI, 349/1 Pliny, Galen, and
others pr.iise the efficacy of viper flesh in the cure of ulcers
(etc.). 1870 fjii.i,MORE Ir, Eigitier's Reptiles ^ Birds ii. 88
Such are the terrible weapons of the Viper group, 1891
'Son of Marshrs' On .Surrey Hills 61 Viper-oil,. you
would find in all the woodmen's cottages. 1894 Daily
Netvs 8 Feb. 5/4 By heating some viper virus at a temperature
of 85 degrees Centigrade.
o. With intensive force (passing in later use into
adj.), = Venomous, extremely bitter, viperous.
591 Svi-VKSTKR Du Bartas i. vi. 05 York and Lancaster,
Ambitious broachcrs of that Viper- War. 1605 fbid.j Sonn.
Late Peace xxviii, All the tempests of our Viper-Warrc.
1788 Burns I^oeVs Progr. 30 Viper-crtlics cureless venom
dart. 1876 Sir E. M, Thompson t'hron. A. de Usk 221 'J he
viper rate of Ixjmlardy, split up into Guelphs and Ghibel
lines. 1899 Miss B. Harraden Fowler 75, I can't abide
the little viper man. /bid. 83 He don't like that little viper
gentleman any more than I,
6. Special combs., as vii>er-broth, broth made
from vipers, or in which a viper has been boiled,
formerly supposed to possess nutritive or invigorating
properties: viper-fish, a deep-sea fish of
the family ChaulioJonlidm, csp. Chaitliodus sloani
{Cent. Did. 1S91) ; viper-gourd, an East Indian
climbing gourd, Triihosanthes colitbrina, remarkable
for its Ugliness {Treas. Bot, 1866;; vipergrass,
=" viper's grass ; also atlrib, ; viper-jelly
(cf. viper-brolh) ; f viper-mouth (see quot. and
cf. viper-fisk alx)vc); f viper-stone, = Serpentine
sb. 3 ; viper-weever, the lesser weever,
Trcuhinus vipera; viper-wine, wine medicated
by an extract or decoction obtained from vipers,
formerly drunk on account of its supposed restorative
or vitalizing
Viper i.
properties; f viper-worm,
1707 Floveb Phjtsic. Puite-Watch 327 Hunted Venison,
227
Stale Meats, "Viper Broths, or Wine. 173a Arulthnot
Kult-s 0/ Diet in Aliments^ etc. i. 509 Viper-broth is both
anti-acid and nourishing. 1843 Fenny Cycl. XXVI. 349/1
'rhe lingering belief in the wonderfully invigorating qualities
of ' viper broth ' is not yet quite extinct in some places.
1656 J. Smith Pract. Physick 238 Topicals must be Specifical
Resolvers, as *Viper.grasse. 1711 C Cleve tr. Cmvleys
J'lants III. C's Wks. III. 347 Viper-grass, full of a milky
Juice Good against Poison. 1757 A. Cooper Distiller m.
XV. (1760) 1 70 Of Viper-grass ten Ounces. 1771 Eticycl. Brit.
III. 102/2 A decoction tnade of barley,.. viper-grass root,
and liquorice. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 232
Wall Viper-grass, /bid., Common Viper-grass. 1863 Prior
Brit. PI. 234 yipcr-grASS,.. Scorzonera edulis. 170a R.
Mead /'m(»«j 34 Jhe Patient ought to eat frequently of
* Viper Gelly; or Broth. 1743 Catesbv Nat. Hist. Caroli'ia{iy7i)
II. J jg n/era Ji/ar/»a, the *Viper-Mouth. This
Fish is eighteen inches in length. f^i,B Phil. Trnns.\L.
442 Speaking of the Serpentine or *Viper-Stone, he relates
a very extraordinary Accident. 186^ Col'ch Brit. Fishes
II. 48 The * Viper Weever, however, is common on most of
the shores of Britain and Ireland. 1631 Massinger Beleeve
as You List IV. i, Your *viper wine, So much in practise
with gray bearded gallants, [is] But vappa to the nectar of
her llppe. 1631 Quarles //ist. Samson Wks, (Grosart) II.
149/2 Their Viper-wines, to make old age presume To feele
new lust, and youthfull flames agin. 1745 Emza Heywood
FemuleSpect. No. 12 {1748) II. 292 Lady Frolick pouring a
glass of viper wine down his throat. z8oa Shaw^^w. Zool.
in. II. 372 Galen .. relates very remarkable cures of tliis
disease [sc. elephantiasis] performed by means of viper wine.
1896 Academy 28 Nov. 448/3 The legend that I_-ady Digby
died of drinking viper-wine, 1591 Sylvester /)>( Bartas
I. vi. 199 'I'h' innammel'd Scorpion, and the "Viper-worm,
iS9» — Tri. Faith iv. v, The deadly sting of th' ugly Viper-
Worm.
b. Si^ecial collocations with z'iper^s, forming
names of plants, as viper's bugloss, the plant
Echium vulgare or a variety of this; viper's
grass, a plant of the genns Scorzonera, esp. S^
hispanica ; f viper's herb, viper's bugloss ; viper's
plant, viper's grass.
1S07GERARDE //erhal II. cclxxii. 658 *Vipers Buglosse, or
wall Buglosse. 1678 Phillips (ed. 4), Vipers Buglosse, a
•Solar herb, the roots and seeds whereof are Cordial and
Kxpellers of Melancholy. 1698 Petiver in Phil. Trans.
XX. 402 In Texture very much resembling our Vipers
Bugloss. 1777 Jacob Catal. Plants 33 Echium angHcum,
Knglish Viper's Bugloss. Echium vnlgare. Vipers Bugloss,
1840 /'Vtfr/f;V7r«/. {1846)1, 106 .\ flinty soil nourishes
the Three-leaved Speedwell and the Viper's Bugloss. 1869
KusKiN Queen 0/Air % 87 It [the serpent spirit] enters into
ihe forget-me-not, and the star of heavenly turquoise is
corrupted into the viper's bugloss. 1597 Gerarde Herbal
It. ccxlii. 596 There be diuers sorts of plants conteinedvnder
the title of Viperaria, Scorzonera, or "Vipers grasse. i6b9
Parkinson Paradisus 301 This Spanish Vipers grasse hath
diuers long, and somewhat broad leaues. /bid., 'i his purple
flowred Vipers grasse hath long and narrow Jeaues. 1718
< )zEM. tr. Toume/ort's I'oy. 1. 174 A Flower of an inch and
half diameter, yellow, like that of the common Vipers-grass,
184J J. B. Kraser Mesopot. ff Assyria xv. 359 East of
Mosul, a species of vipers'-grass, .abounds, and affords a
plentiful nutriment, 1^5 Oelamer Kitchen Gard. (1861)
32 Scorzonera, Viper*.s-Grass, or Spanish Salsify. 1597
CiERARDB Herbal 11. cclxxii. 659 It is called. .in English
vipers Buglosse, Snakes Buglosse, and of some *vipers
herbe, and wilde Buglosse the lesser. 1884 tr. De Candolles
Orig. Cultivated I"*I. 45 Scorzonera hispanica-.-wn'^ formerly
supposed to be an antidote .igainst the bite of adders,
and was sometimes called the *vipt;r's plant.
Hence (chiefly in nonce-use) Vi'poran, fVipeTeal,
t Vi'perod, Vlpo'rian adjs,^ of or pertaining
to a viper ; viperinc, viperous ; Vipe'rifornt
viperinc.
1877 Talmage Serm. 338 The acid of a soured life, the
a., having the form of a viper ;
'viperan sting of a bitter memory. 1748 Phil. Trans.
XLV. 662 Hence perhaps the *vipereal Venom ..may
derive its Force. 1560 Fitzwilliam /.et. in Fronde Hist.
A"'/f-. (1863) VIII. lb There was not under the sun a more
craftier "vipercd undermining generation. x866J. \\. Rosi:tr.
Ovids Met. 115 And Perseus triumphant homeward brings
*Viperian spoils, rit. II. 552 The great Pox which
can scarce ever l>c cur'd without Viperals or Mercurials.
t VipereOUS,«. 0/'j.~' [f. L. t'f/^^r^-Kf (hence
It. vipcreo)^ f. Vipera Viper: see -ecus. Cf.
ViPERious rt.] Viperous, venomous.
In the first cjuot. after Ovid Metam, iv. 490 ; in the second
translating Virgil Atneidwx. 349-51.
c i6jo Rohinson Maty Magd. 547 A dreary hagge of
Acheron . . in the palaces of Pleasure stood, Shakinge y« frie
of her vipereous brood, /bid. 565 And one vpon y« wretched
mayd shee slunge, That ..glided on her brest with gentle
h.a.st, And there vipereous cogitations plac't.
Vi'pereSS. z-^/-^. [f. Viper -j- -ess,] A female
viper. In quot.y?^.
1647 R. Stapvi.ton Juvenal 102 But Pontia did confesse,
* My sons I would have poyson'd '. Viperesse !
Vi-perine, j/'. » n/r^. [f. Vipek + -i.ne 5.] (See
quot.)
i86t HuLMi: tr. Moqutn'Tandon ii. v. ii. 204 Prince Lucicn
Bonaparte has shown that the poison of the Viper consists
essentially of a principle to which he has given the name
Echidnine or Viperine.
Viperiue (v;*iperMn, -^in), a, and sb.^ Also
S -in. [ad. L. vtperiU'US (hence OF. viperin^ I''.
vip^rin, It., Sp., and Pg. viperiito), f. vipera
Viper : see -ine i.]
1. Resembling a viper or that of a viper ; having
VIPER-LIKE.
the nature or character of a viper ; venomous,
viperous; viper-like. Chiefly in fig. or allusive
use (cf. Viper 3).
a i55o/w/a^(r HyPocr. \\. 291 in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II.
426 H is county pallantyne Haue coustome colubryne, With
codes viperyne And sectes serpentyne. 1604 R. Cawdrky
Table Alph. (1613), Viperine, like a viper, or of a viper.
1648 E. Simmons Pre/, to Wodenote's /lerm. Theol. A 8 b,
If ever the Title of Rex diabolorum was rightly applyable
to the King of this land, 'tis since ttie viperine birth of these
miscreants. 1657 J. Sergeant Schism Dispach't 22 Lingua
viperea I Viperine tongue ! 169; Evri.vn Numism. ix. 299
Cssar Borgia's Viperine Aspect. 1716 M. Davies Athen.
Brit. II. 150 Of all the Poetick Salts,., the Satyrical {is] most
Viperin and Piercing, the Kclogist and Idilian the most
Country.wise and Native. 1873 /^outledge^s Vng. Gent I.
Mag. ^\x\\e 401/ 1 He [a grass-snake] raised himself up in
true viperine fashion.
+ b. Jig. Of glosses (see Viper 3 a). Obs.
1647 Tbapp Comtn. Matt. v. 22 Our Saviour, .taking away
their viperine glosses that did eat out the bowels of the
text. 1648 Commoner's Liberty 18 Had he any other way
to weaken what must of necessity be inferred from them,
but by such ^'iperine glosses.
c. Of persons.
165a Gaule Magastrmn. 362 Archilocus, a viperine satyrist,
and not onely so, but a petulant obscure poet. 1716 M.
Davies At/un. Brit. II. 'lo Rdr. 40 Implacable Enemies of
the most invenemated Viperin, or rather Draconick kind,
who are .. continually gnawing and corroding the very
Bowels. .of the Church of England. 1845 Hkowning /.ett.
{1899) I- 48 A viperineshe-friendof minewho, I think, rather
loves me, she does so hate me. X903 Times 16 Dec 11/5 The
convention of the virtuous heroine and the viperine adven.
turess.
2. Of or pertaining to a viper ; obtained from or
natural to vipers.
1608 TovsvAA. Serpents 286 They [tortoises] eate Origan,
for that herbe is an antidote against Viperine poyson for
them. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. x. ^47 Viperine
Medicines are good in the Itch and Leprosie. 170a R.
Mead J'oisons 33
'I'he main Efficacy of the Viperine Flesh
is to quicken the Circle of the Blood. 1728 C'hambi-.us Cycl.
s.v. Kyi^r, The Virus, .proves a nimble Vehicle to carry the
Viperine Spicula almost every where suddenly. 1851 W. J.
Bkodekip Z-^arri />". Note Bh. Nat. [1852) 224 The viperine
remedy had classical authority for its ministration. 1904
Brit. Med. Jrnl. 17 Sept. 670 These two being examples of
mixed colubrineand viperine poisons.
3. Zooi. Of snakes : Resembling or related to the
common viper ; now spec, belonging to the suborder
Viperina {Soknoglyphd).
1803 Shaw Gen. Zool. III. 11. 355 Viperine Boa. Boa
I 'iperina. 1870 Gii.lmore tr. Fign/er's Reptiles