black snake

black snake (plural black snakes)

1. Any of certain snakes that are black in colour:
   1. Any species of Pseudechis, a genus of Australian snakes.
   2. Crotalus oreganus, a venomous North American pit viper species of snake.
   3. Agkistrodon piscivorus, a venomous North American pit viper species of snake.
   4. Coluber constrictor, a non-venomous North and Central American species of snake.
   5. Pantherophis alleghaniensis, a North American colubrid species of snake.
   6. Pantherophis obsoletus, a North American colubrid species of snake.
   7. Pantherophis spiloides, a North American colubrid species of snake.
2. A kind of firework that creates a snake-like formation of ash via an intumescent reaction.

   Synonym: snake

3. Alternative form of blacksnake (“whip”)
   • 1907, Elbert Hubbard, Harry Persons Taber, The Philistine, page 46:

     All at once I saw a strange man coming across the diamond with a black snake whip in his hand.

   • 1914, John F. Merry, History of Delaware County, Iowa, and Its People, page 203:

     His punishment was fixed at thirty-nine lashes with a black snake whip […]

• Pharaoh's serpent