snakehead

Definitions

1. A family of perciform fish native to Africa and Asia, Channidae.
2. A Chinese smuggler, especially one who smuggles people.
   slang
3. A black person.
   US, derogatory, ethnic, slang, slur
4. A showy perennial plant, Chelone glabra, found in North American marshlands; the turtlehead
5. A loose, bent-up end of one of the strap rails, or flat rails, formerly used on American railroads.
   US

Equivalents

Examples

“Through this plantation ran a creek full of snakeheads and eels, its overflow swelling the swamp around it.”

“Why would they want⟳ to run⟳? -- To get⟳ away from the snakeheads. -- What's that? -- The snakeheads pay⟳ to get⟳ them here and then they gotta work⟳ off what they owe⟳.”

“[…] but snakeheads involved in air smuggling may venture into sea smuggling. A thirty-two-year-old housewife from Fuzhou who left China by boat alleged that her snakehead was involved in both.”

CEFR level