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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Reptile \Rep"tile\ (r?p"t?l;277), adjective [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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Reptile \Rep"tile\, noun
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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
reptile
noun: any cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia including tortoises turtles snakes lizards alligators crocodiles and extinct forms [syn: {reptilian}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
129 Moby Thesaurus words for "reptile": Gila monster, Reptilia, agama, alligator, amphibian, anguine, animal, anole, aquatic, atiptoe, batrachian, bearded lizard, beast, biped, blindworm, box turtle, butterfly agama, canine, cannibal, carnivore, cayman, chameleon, clawback, colubriform, cosmopolite, crawling, creature, creeping, crocodile, crocodilian, cur, diamondback, dinosaur, dog, dragon, false map turtle, feline, flying dragon, froggy, gator, gavial, gecko, girdle-tailed lizard, glass snake, gnawer, green turtle, groveler, hawksbill, hawksbill turtle, herbivore, hound, hyena, iguana, insect, insectivore, invertebrate, leatherback, lickspittle, lizard, lizardlike, mammal, mammalian, marsupial, marsupialian, matamata, minion, mongrel, monitor, mugger, omnivore, on all fours, on tippytoe, on tiptoe, ophidian, pig, polecat, primate, quadruped, repent, reptant, reptatorial, reptilelike, reptilian, reptiliform, reptiloid, rodent, ruminant, saurian, scavenger, sea turtle, serpent, serpentiform, serpentile, serpentine, serpentlike, serpentoid, skunk, slithering, snake, snakelike, snaky, soft-shelled turtle, stump tail, swine, teju, terrapin, tippytoe, tiptoe, tiptoeing, toad, toadeater, toadish, toady, tortoise, tuatara, turtle, ungulate, varmint, vermin, vertebrate, viper, viperiform, viperish, viperlike, viperoid, viperous, vipery, whelp, worm
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