viper

From Middle French vipere, from Old French vipre, from Latin vīpera, contracted from vīvipara f (“viviparous”, adj.), from vivus (“alive”, adj.) +‎ parere (“to bear”, verb). Doublet of weever and wyvern.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪpɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪpə(ɹ)

viper (plural vipers)

1. A venomous snake in the family Viperidae.

   Synonym: adder

2. (informal) Any venomous snake.
3. (figurative) A dangerous, treacherous, or malignant person.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, .”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J. M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 62:

     And aggravate my folly who committed / To ſuch a viper his moſt ſacred truſt / Of ſecreſie, my ſafety, and my life.

   • 1879, Francis Beaumont, The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher: The Text Formed from a New Collation of the Early Editions, Volume 1, D. Appleton, page 350:

     Consider, for the love of Heaven, to what you run madly: will you take this viper into your bed?

4. (slang) A person who smokes marijuana.
   • a. 1936, Stuff Smith (lyrics and music), “If You're a Viper”:

     Dreamed about a reefer five feet long / Mighty Mezz, but not too strong / You'll be high but not for long / If you're a viper

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:viper.

• Jonathon Green (2024) “viper n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang