the.com/cottonmouth
the only viper that gapes a white mouth to say back off before it bothers biting.
means A venomous semi-aquatic pit viper of the southeastern United States, named for the startling white lining of its mouth that it displays as a warning; also slang for the dry-mouthed feeling that follows dehydration or smoking.
from A transparent English compound of "cotton" and "mouth," coined for the snake's threat display — when alarmed, it gapes wide to flash a mouth interior as pale and fibrous-looking as raw cotton. The snake is also called the water moccasin, "moccasin" being a borrowing from an Algonquian language (the same root that gave us the soft shoe). The slang sense for parching thirst is a later figurative leap — your mouth gone dry and cottony, as if stuffed with the stuff.
- swims bold
- Cruises rivers floating high, unlike harmless water snakes
- warning flash
- Open mouth shows cottony white lining as threat
- also called
- Water moccasin, found across the U.S. southeast
- heat vision
- Facial pits sense prey by infrared warmth
- venom job
- Hemotoxic bite destroys tissue and blood cells
cottonmouth snake — venomous pit viper native to southeastern united states, also called water moccasin
cottonmouth band — american country/southern rock band from athens, georgia, formed in 2004