a large South American snake of the boa family, that wraps itself tightly around other animals to kill them before eating them 水蚺（南美洲蟒蛇） Word Originmid 18th cent. (originally denoting a kind of Sri Lankan snake): unexplained alteration of Latin anacandaia ‘python’, from Sinhalese henakaňdayā ‘whip snake’, from hena ‘lightning’ + kaňda ‘stem’.