Definition of "snaky"
snaky
adjective
comparative snakier, superlative snakiest
Resembling or relating to snakes; snakelike.
Quotations
[S]ome of Serpent kinde / Wondrous in length and corpulence involv'd / Thir Snakie foulds, and added wings.
1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 482–484
There is a snaky gleam in her hard grey eye, as of anticipated rounds of buttered toast, relays of hot chops, worryings and quellings of young children, sharp snappings at poor Berry, and all the other delights of her Ogress's castle.
1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Retribution”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, page 594
To look at the tawny brawn of his lithe snaky limbs, you would almost have credited the superstitions of some of the earlier Puritans, and half-believed this wild Indian to be a son of the Prince of the Powers of the Air.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XXVII, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley
Windy; winding; twisty; sinuous, wavy.
Quotations
So are those crisped snaky golden locks / Which make such wanton gambols with the wind, / Upon supposed fairness, often known / To be the dowry of a second head, / The skull that bred them in the sepulchre.
c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]
(obsolete) Covered with serpents; having serpents.
Quotations
What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield / That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin, / Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone, / But rigid looks of chaste austerity, / And noble grace that dashed brute violence / With sudden adoration and blank awe?
1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, lines 447-452
His hat adorned with wings disclosed the god, / And in his hand he bore the sleep-compelling rod; / Such as he seemed, when, at his sire’s command, / On Argus’ head he laid the snaky wand.
1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]