||Rep*tan"ti*a (r?p-t?n"sh?-?), n. pl. [NL.] (Zoöl.) A division of
||gastropods; the Pectinibranchiata.
Rep*ta"tion (r?p-t?"sh?n), n. [L. reptatio, from reptare: cf. F.
reptation.] (Zoöl.) The act of creeping.
Rep"ta*to*ry (r?p"t?-t?-r?), a. (Zoöl.) Creeping.
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.
Rep"tile, n. 1. (Zoöl.) 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.