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reptile
(redirected from Reptilian proteins)

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
rep·tile  (rptl, -tl)
n.
1. Any of various cold-blooded, usually egg-laying vertebrates of the class Reptilia, such as a snake, lizard, crocodile, turtle, or dinosaur, having an external covering of scales or horny plates and breathing by means of lungs.
2. A person regarded as despicable or treacherous.

[Middle English reptil, from Old French reptile, from Late Latin rptile, from neuter of Latin rptilis, creeping, from rptus, past participle of rpere, to creep.]

reptile [ˈrɛptaɪl]
n
1. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Animals) (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Zoology) any of the cold-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Reptilia, characterized by lungs, an outer covering of horny scales or plates, and young produced in amniotic eggs. The class today includes the tortoises, turtles, snakes, lizards, and crocodiles; in Mesozoic times it was the dominant group, containing the dinosaurs and related forms
2. a grovelling insignificant person you miserable little reptile!
adj
1. creeping, crawling, or squirming
2. grovelling or insignificant; mean; contemptible
[from Late Latin reptilis creeping, from Latin rēpere to crawl]

reptile  (rptl)
Any of various cold-blooded vertebrates of the class Reptilia, having skin covered with scales or horny plates, breathing air with lungs, and usually having a three-chambered heart. Unlike amphibians, whose eggs are fertilized outside the female body, reptiles reproduce by eggs that are fertilized inside the female. Though once varied, widespread, and numerous, reptilian lineages, including the pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and dinosaurs, have mostly become extinct (though birds are living descendants of dinosaurs). The earliest reptiles were the cotylosaurs (or stem reptiles) of the late Mississippian or early Pennsylvanian Period, from which mammals evolved. Modern reptiles include crocodiles, snakes, turtles, and lizards.

reptile


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