mamba
(ˈmæmbə)
Also 9 momba.
[ad. Zulu imamba.]
A large venomous African snake of the genus Dendroaspis (family Elapidæ), esp. the green mamba (green a. 13 b), D. angusticeps, and the black mamba, D. polylepis. Also attrib.
| 1862 J. S. Dobie in S. Afr. Jrnl. (1945) 44 He called it a green mamba and was about 9 feet long. 1878 P. Gillmore Great Thirst Land xxix. 346 A black mamba—a description of snake common in Natal, and reported to be very deadly. 1897 J. Bryce Impressions S. Afr. iii. 23 The black momba, which is nearly as large as a rattlesnake, is a dangerous creature. 1910 J. Buchan Prester John iv. 80 A black mamba might appear out of the tangle. 1912 F. W. Fitzsimons Snakes S. Afr. (new ed.) 194 There are two varieties of the Mamba. One is vivid leaf-green, the other is olive or brownish-black. 1921 Chambers's Jrnl. 26 Feb. 203/2 It was a mamba snake, eight feet long. 1939 S. Cloete Watch for Dawn 62 With the bite of a mamba or a ringhals the heart sometimes beat even after life had gone. 1958 Listener 23 Jan. 154/1 Black mambas..have the unattractive habit of lurking in trees and dropping down on to the unwary. 1965 A. Nicol Truly Married Woman 96 A poisonous one, a mamba, its middle still rippling slowly. 1969 A. Bellairs Life of Reptiles I. v. 191 The deadly mambas (Dendroaspis) have fangs which are relatively a little shorter and thinner than those of the average cobra. |