From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcobraco‧bra /ˈkəʊbrə $ ˈkoʊ-/ noun [countable] HBAa poisonous African or Asian snake that can spread the skin of its neck to make itself look bigger
Examples from the Corpus
cobra• Miss McFawn could stare down a cobra.• Its poised, out-thrust head gave it the appearance of a cobra, a white cobra.• Being in this school is like being in a cage with a cobra.• The next foliage to watch for, Lamb predicts, will be ferns and cobra leaves.• I saw a king cobra over there.• Holly's hand moved, the lightning strike of the cobra.• At Byblos she was a serpent-goddess whose cobra symbolized the eye of wisdom.COBRACOBRA (also COBR) // an abbreviation of Cabinet Office Briefing Room A. It can either refer to these offices or to the Civil Contingencies Committee which meets there.Origin cobra (1800-1900) Portuguese cobra (de capello) “snake with a hood”, from Latin colubra “snake” 