SNAKE, noun A serpent of the oviparous kind, distinguished from a viper, says Johnson. But in America, the common and general name of serpents, and so the word is used by the poets. SNAKE, verb transitive In seamen's language, to wind a small rope round a large one spirally, the small ropes lying in the spaces between the strands of the large one. This is called also worming.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI