Definition of "mamba" [mamba]

• Any of several venomous arboreal snakes of the genus Dendroaspis of tropical Africa, especially D. angusticeps, a green or black tree snake having an often fatal bite. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The lama accepts the khata, throws dice, to indicate a certain page in a sacred book which is turned up, whereupon the name of the mamba is announced."
• "Speaking in debate on the Local Government Transition Bill, he said every black authority had been destroyed by the ANC "mamba" let loose by the Government."
• "At this moment, too, the local papers are full of recipes for the prevention and cure of snake-bites, public attention being much attracted to the subject on account of an Englishman having been bitten by a black "mamba" (a very venomous adder) a short time since, and having died of the wound in a few hours."