reptitious

reptitious

English

Etymology

From Late Latin reptitius (“creeping”), corruption of Latin reperticius, from reptus (“crept, crawled”) + -īcius (“-itious”), from rēpere (“to creep, to crawl”), modified by English -ious, q.v. Cognate with repent, reptant, reptile, reptilious, surreptitious.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹəpˈtɪʃəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɹɛpˈtɪʃəs/
• Rhymes: -ɪʃəs

Adjective

reptitious (comparative more reptitious, superlative most reptitious)

1. (obsolete) Synonym of reptile: creeping, crawling.
   • 1658, Edward Phillips, The New World of English Words, s.v. "reptitious":

     Reptitious, stealing or creeping on by degrees.

   • 1661, Thomas Blount, Glossographia, 2nd ed., s.v. "Reptile or Reptitious":

     Reptile or Reptitious, that creeps; or, by privy means, gets to high estate.

   • 1742, Charles Owen, An Essay towards a Natural History of Serpents, p. 2:

     Some Serpents are reptitious, creep on the Belly, and some have Feet.

2. (obsolete) Synonym of reptilian: reptilelike, (figuratively) cold-blooded, treacherous.
   • 1661, Thomas Blount, Glossographia, 2nd ed., s.v. "Reptile or Reptitious":

     Reptile or Reptitious, that creeps; or, by privy means, gets to high estate.

   • 1675, Edmund Borlase, The Reduction of Ireland to the Crown of England, p. 172:

     Whether [dysentery] proceeds from... some Occult cause, no venomous Creature living [in Ireland] to suck that which may be thought... well distributed amongst reptitious Animals, I shall not determine.

References

• “† reptitious, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.