Zool. [L. cerastēs, a. Gr. κεράστης horned, a horned serpent, f. κέρας horn.] A genus of venomous serpents found in Africa and some parts of Asia, having a projecting scale or ‘horn’ above each eye; the horned viper. Early and poetic uses are drawn vaguely from Pliny, and other ancient writers, who probably meant a species of the same genus.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xxxi. 794. Cerastes is an hornid serpent.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vi. (1641), 51/1. Th’ horned Cerastes, th’ Alexandrian Skink.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, I. iii. 10. Like the new-horn’d Cerastes, violent.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 525. Cerastes hornd, Hydrus, and Ellops drear.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymnotheo, Wks. 1721, III. 20. As horn’d Cerastes wont to … watch for Mischief in a beaten Road.
1814. Cary, Dante’s Inf., IX. 42. Adders and cerastes crept Instead of hair, and their fierce temples bound.
1863. Wood, Nat. Hist., iii. 107. The true Cerastes or Horned Viper is a native of Northern Africa.
