snake's head
Also snakeshead, snake's-head.
[snake n. 13.]
1. attrib. a. snake's-head iris, an iris of the Mediterranean region, Hermodactylus tuberosus.
| 1739 Miller Gard. Dict. II, Hermodactylus, the Hermodactyl, commonly called Snakes-head Iris. 1786 Abercrombie Arr. in Gard. Assist. 59 Tuberous-rooted, or snake's head iris. 1825 Greenho. Comp. I. 117 Chalcedonian and Snakeshead Iris. 1882 Garden 18 Mar. 176/1 The Snake's⁓head Iris..is not a new, but a very old, plant. |
b. snake's-head fly (see quot.).
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxxiv. 527 Raphidia, the snake's-head fly. |
c. snake's-head fritillary, snake's head lily (see 2 b).
| 1899 Gardening Illustr. 29 Apr. 112/1 The beautiful Snake's-head Fritillary..that grows in the Oxfordshire meadows. 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 180 Butter⁓burs and wild snake's-head lilies. |
2. a. U.S. = snake-head 1.
| 1834 Audubon Ornith. II. 150 The Snake's Head [Chelone glabra] grows on the banks of rivers and swamps, in the Middle and Southern States. 1866 Treas. Bot. 1067. |
b. The common fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris; so called from the fancied resemblance of the bud to the head of a snake.
| 1859 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. V. 277 Common Fritillary, or Snake's-head. 1869 Ruskin Q. of Air §87 It chequers itself into a snake's head, and secretes in the deep of its bell..honey-dew. 1897 B'ham Weekly Post 17 Apr. 4/7 Snakes⁓heads, our wild flower is sometimes called, from the shape of the buds. |
3. U.S. (See quots. and snake-head 2.)
| 1848 in Bartlett Dict. Amer. 315 The road to Petersburg consists of an iron strap laid upon pine timber, and is beautifully diversified with that peculiar half horizontal, vibrating rail, known as ‘snake's head’. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 223 n., As the ends of the bars became loose and turned upwards they were known as ‘snakes' heads’. |