Definition of "serpent"

He falls into it, who has digg'd a Pit.Who breaks a Hedge is with a Serpent bit.

1712, A. Hill, chapter 9, in The Book of Ecclesiastes Paraphrased. A Divine Poem.‎, Newcastle upon Tyne: J. White, page 38

Coiled up behind the shrub, […] was a green imamba, the most dreaded of all South African serpents.

1879, Charles H. Eden, chapter III, in Ula, in Veldt and Laager: A Tale of the Zulus.‎, copyright edition, Hamburg: Karl Grädener, page 45

Any serpent six feet long looks formidable; and over that length, one takes on the aspect of a chimera.

1946 October, Archibald Rutledge, “Along Nature's Trail”, in Boys' Life‎, volume 36, number 10, Boy Scouts of America, Inc., page 40

He is a very serpent in my way.

c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iii]

'Dogs and serpents,' She began in a low voice that gradually gathered power as she went on, till the place rang with it. Eaters of human flesh, two things have ye done. First, ye have attacked these strangers, being white men, and would have slain their servant, and for that alone death is your reward.'

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887

fruit-trees, whose boles are serpented with excellent vines

1645 February 10 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819