Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Reptile \Rep"tile\, n.
   1. (Zo["o]l.) An animal that crawls, or moves on its belly,
      as snakes,, or by means of small, short legs, as lizards,
      and the like.

            An inadvertent step may crush the snail That crawls
            at evening in the public path; But he that has
            humanity, forewarned, Will tread aside, and let the
            reptile live.                         --Cowper.

   2. (Zo["o]l.) One of the Reptilia, or one of the Amphibia.

   Note: The amphibians were formerly classed with Reptilia, and
         are still popularly called reptiles, though much more
         closely allied to the fishes.

   3. A groveling or very mean person.

Reptile \Rep"tile\ (r?p"t?l;277), a. [F. reptile, L. reptilis,
   fr. repere, reptum, to creep; cf. Lith. reploti; perh. akin
   to L. serpere. Cf. {Serpent}.]
   1. Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and
      short legs.

   2. Hence: Groveling; low; vulgar; as, a reptile race or crew;
      reptile vices.

            There is also a false, reptile prudence, the result
            not of caution, but of fear.          --Burke.

            And dislodge their reptile souls From the bodies and
            forms of men.                         --Coleridge.

Source : WordNet®

reptile
     n : any cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia including
         tortoises turtles snakes lizards alligators crocodiles
         and extinct forms [syn: {reptilian}]