Definition of "blacksnake" []

• Any of various dark-colored, chiefly nonvenomous snakes, such as the black racer or the black rat snake of North America. (noun)
• A long, tapering, braided rawhide or leather whip with a snapper on the end. (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.

• "An animal control officer removed a healthy blacksnake from a woman's basement and returned it to the wild."
• "Karayilan -- his name is Turkish for "blacksnake" -- is a hunted man."
• "Maurice gathered the lines firmly, seized his "blacksnake," and, with a low whistle, urged his animals, that bounded forward, snorting with fear as a crack of thunder followed, booming down the gorges with deafening echoes."