Also -o. [Occurs in Ray, in a List of Indian Serpents from the Leyden Museum, as ‘anacandaia of the Ceylonese, i.e., he that crushes the limbs of buffaloes and yoke beasts,’ but not now a native name in Ceylon, and not satisfactorily explained either in Cingalese or Tamil. (Cf. however Tamil āṇaik′k′onḍa ‘having killed an elephant,’ Col. Yule.)] A name (a.) originally applied (by English writers) to a ‘very large and terrible snake’ of Ceylon (? Python reticulatus, or P. molurus Gray); but (b.) made by Daudin (? through erroneous identification, or mistake as to the source of a specimen) the specific name of a large South American Boa (Boa murina Linn., B. aquatica Neuwied., B. anacondo Daud., Eunectes murinus Wagler, Gray), called in Brazil sucurù, or sucuriuba, to which it is now attached in the British Museum Catalogue, and London Zoological Gardens. (c.) loosely applied to any large snake which crushes its prey.
a. [1693. Ray, Synop. Method., 332. Serpens Indicus Bubalinus, Anacandaia Zeylonensibus, id est Bubalorum aliorumque jumentorum membra conterens.]
1768. Scots Mag., Append. 673. Description of the Anaconda, a monstrous species of Serpent [a fictitious ‘Letter’ founded on Ray]. The Ceylonese seemed to know the creature well; they call it Anaconda.
1797. Encycl. Brit., Anacondo, a name given in the isle of Ceylon to a very large and terrible snake which often devours the unfortunate traveller alive.
1808. Lady’s Monthly Mus., V. 121. An account of the Anocondo, a monstrous species of Serpent in the East Indies, and of the manner of its seizing and managing its Prey.
1810. Encycl. Lond., IV. 61, s.v. Ceylon, The vast boa the Anacændaia of the Ceylonese is common here.
1849. Pridham, Ceylon, II. 750. Pimbera or anaconda, is of the genus Python, Cuv., and is known in English as the rock snake [P. molurus].
1859. Tennent, Ceylon (ed. 2), I. 196. The great python [P. reticulatus Gray] the ‘boa’ as it is commonly designated by Europeans, the ‘anaconda’ of Eastern story, which is supposed to crush the bones of an elephant, and to swallow the tiger, is found … in the cinnamon gardens.
1859. D. King, in Jrnl. R. G. S., XXX. 181. The skins of anacondas offered at Bangkok come from the northern provinces.
b. 1836. Penny Cycl., V. 27. This … according to Cuvier, is the Boa aquatica of Prince Maximilian and the Anaconda according to the same authority. Mr. Bennett observes … that the name of Anaconda, like that of Boa Constrictor, has been popularly applied to all the larger and more powerful snakes. He adds that the word appears to be of Ceylonese origin, and applies it to the Python Tigris.
1849. J. Gray, Brit. Mus. Cat. Snakes, 102. The Anacondo, Eunectes murinus … Brazil … Tropical America.
c. 1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, III. vi. 113. The lurid glare of the anaconda’s eye.
1849. W. Irving, Bonneville, 304. Having … completely gorged himself, he would wrap himself up, and lie with the torpor of an anaconda.
1864. Sala, in Daily Tel., 23 Nov. The circle of the general’s admirers was growing every moment more anaconda-like.
1879. Daily News, 13 June, 2/2. A marvellous dress, which, aided by the supple form of the fair owner, conveyed the idea of an anaconda.
