Serpentize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To move or wind along in a twisting, snake-like path that curves back and forth
2. To take on a winding, coiling course resembling the sinuous movement of a snake
3. To proceed in a sinuous, zigzagging line much as a serpent slides across the ground

Etymology: "Serpentize" is about as plain as English coinages get: it is simply "serpent" with the verbal suffix "-ize" attached, meaning to make something wind or twist like a serpent. The root "serpent" arrived in English from Old French, ultimately from Latin "serpens," the present participle of "serpere," to creep, which is also the source of the word "serpigo," a creeping skin disease. The suffix "-ize" comes through Latin "-izare" from Greek "-izein," and it was used to turn nouns into verbs throughout English's long borrowing of Greek and Latin vocabulary. Combining "serpent" with it gives a verb that describes movement in a sinuous, snake-like path, a use that is more often seen in writing about roads, rivers, and paths than in everyday speech.

Synonyms: meander, wind, snake

Antonyms: straighten