Definition of "sea serpent" [sea• ser•pent]

• A large snakelike marine animal often reported by mariners since antiquity but never positively identified. (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.

• "This creature, looking in fact less like a sea serpent and more like one of the clay people of Mayan mythology and Flash Gordon serials, stomped up out of the reservoir and slogged straight to Tom, who actually looked kind of startled at this abrupt approach, saying, “Al?"
• "The sea serpent really might have been dumber than the Gorgons, because it took a very long time to realize it was dead."
• "A twenty-foot sea serpent thrashed wildly, forcing a long-horned tiger to spring aside and stalk Burke from his left."