boa-constrictor
(ˈbəʊə kənˈstrɪktə(r))
[f. boa + L. constrictor, one who squeezes or draws together.]
1. The specific name of a large Brazilian serpent of the genus Boa, of which it was supposed by Linnæus to be the largest species; though this is not the case, the name (partly no doubt from its meaning) has taken hold of the popular fancy as that of the largest and most terrible of the serpents, and is commonly applied to any great crushing snake, whether a Boa or Python.
| [1788 Linnæus Syst. Nat. I. iii. 1083 Boa, (β) constrictor, rex serpentum.] 1809 Gen. P. Thompson Let. fr. Sierra Leone 26 Jan., The Boa Constrictor is described by the Natives and our Colonists with evident marks of the magnifying power of fear. 1811 L. Simond Tour & Resid. Gt. Brit. (1817) II. 252 The boa Constrictor is a gigantic Snake. 1836 Penny Cycl. V. 27/1 The name of Anaconda, like that of Boa Constrictor, has been popularly applied to all the larger and more powerful snakes. 1872 Baker Nile Tribut. x. 161 We came upon a fine boa-constrictor (python). |
2. fig.
| 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey iv. i. 138 [His letters] are..perfect epistolary Boa Constrictors..I myself have suffered under their voluminous windings. 1848 H. Rogers Ess. (1874) I. vi. 320 He feels himself within the coils of a great logical boa constrictor. |
Hence boa-conˈstrictorish, -conˈstrictorlike a.
| 1835 Clough Poems & Prose Rem. (1869) I. 58 All the physic which has lengthened the doctor's bill to a most boa-constrictor-like size. 1881 Blackw. Mag. July 123 Many a boa-constrictorish adventurer..victualling himself for many days to come. |