‖ cobra de capello
(ˈkəʊbrə diː kəˈpɛləʊ)
[Pg.; = ‘snake with hood, hood-snake’. Pg. cobra:—L. colubra snake; capello hood, F. chapeau. Various inaccurate representations of the Pg., as cobra capello, capella, di capello, occur.]
The Hooded or Spectacle Snake (Naja tripudians), a very venomous serpent found in India and adjacent countries, remarkable for its power of dilating the neck and sides of the head when irritated, so as to produce the resemblance of a hood.
| 1668 Phil. Trans. III. 863 Serpents..which have an Head on each end of the Body, called Capra Capella. 1671 Ibid. VI. 3093 Another sort, called Cobres Capellos, the most venomous of all. 1693 Ibid. XVII. 765 That Indian Serpent, call'd by the Portugueses Cobra Copello, whose flat Head is mark'd with the Figure of a pair of Spectacles. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. IV. 126 The cobra di capello or hooded serpent. 1860 H. Gouger 2 Yrs. Impris. Burmah xxiii. 264 It was a large cobra capello. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. v. i. 259 The spectacled serpent properly so called, or the Cobra de Capello. |