buzzworm
n.— «Being in the sun, perhaps the bike path was too warm for this 30-inch buzzworm, a pit viper species common to California and known to biologists and Latin scholars as Crotalus viridis oreganos, or Northern Pacific Rattlesnake.» —“Bikepath buzzworm” by winehiker Winehiker Witiculture Sept. 22, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Astronauts returning from space say they experience what’s called the overview effect, a new understanding of the fragility of our planet and our need to reflect on what humans all share as a species. A book about the end of the universe...
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Thank you for referencing my post. I first encountered the term “buzzworm” when reading Edward Abbey back in the late 1970s. Here’s a reference to the term in Abbey’s “The Serpents of Paradise: A Reader (1996).“