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# boa

«boa» in Mova's school dictionary: **A large snake that kills its prey by wrapping round it…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a boa, boas)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A large snake that kills its prey by wrapping round it and squeezing, as the boa constrictor of Central and South America does. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boa/#m1)

2) A long, fluffy scarf made of feathers or fur, worn round the neck for dressing up: a feather boa. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boa/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons boas are an example of constrictors, which squeeze rather than use venom; they give birth to live young. In everyday life feather boas appear in dressing-up boxes, parties and shows. Phrases: boa constrictor, feather boa.

### examples

- A boa constrictor squeezes its prey. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boa/#x1)
- Boas are not venomous. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boa/#x2)
- The zoo keeper let us touch a boa. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boa/#x3)
- She wore a pink feather boa to the party. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boa/#x4)
- Boas give birth to live baby snakes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boa/#x5)
- The boa wrapped itself around a branch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boa/#x6)

### note

Countable: a boa, boas. Pronounced BOH-a. Not the same as a python (which lays eggs) or an anaconda (a kind of boa). Myth: boas do not crush bones to kill; they squeeze so blood cannot flow.

### In the corpora

- [Pythons, boas and anacondas are the giants of the snake world.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/321-big-snakes-pythons-boas-and-anacondas-and-how-big-they-really-get/0/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «boa» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boa/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.