noun
1. chiefly South and Midland : a fabled snake of extremely venomous character that rolls itself up with its tail in its mouth to proceed at great speed in the manner of a hoop and destroys both animal and plant life with a sting in the end of its tail
2. : either of two harmless brightly colored burrowing colubrid snakes chiefly of the southeastern U.S.:
a. : a large snake ( Farancia abacura ) that is blue black above and largely red below and has a sharp nonvenomous spine at the end of its tail — called also horn snake
b. : rainbow snake