Snakes may deliver such a "dry bite" rather than waste their venom on a creature too large for them to eat.

The dry bite of Lenz's rosé invites a second glass and, if you are not driving, a third.

The temperature would be stabilizing this morning, he could tell by the particular dry bite of the relative humidity in his sinuses.

If you do not develop symptoms within 8 to 12 hours, it is possible that no venom was injected; this is called a dry bite.

Araneus spiders possess various venoms, but will deliver a dry bite on 8 of 10 occasions.

A dry bite is a bite by a venomous animal in which no venom is released.

In practice it is not necessarily simple to tell a dry bite from a dangerously or at least harmfully venomous bite.

Secondarily, it is used for self-defense, though in cases with nonprey, such as humans, they may give a dry bite (not inject any venom).

Luckily, it was a dry bite-- no venom - and he survived, eventually rising to superintendent of the Reptile House.

Tarantulas generally bite humans only in self-defence, and these bites do not always result in envenomation (known as a "dry bite").

While photographing the Peringuey's Adder, Stevens was bitten, but the bite wasn't serious and probably just a dry bite.

Such control permits a spider to administer either a dry bite, a dose appropriate to the nature of the prey or enemy, or a maximal dose.

The combination of pressure and immobilization may contain venom so effectively that no symptoms are visible for more than 24 hours, giving the illusion of a dry bite.

"Dry bites" involving no venom are particularly common with the copperhead, though all pit vipers are capable of a dry bite.

But the cold, dry bite of the night air reminded him strongly of the winter he'd spent at the White Sands Test Range in New Mexico a few years before.

After a few hours, as he sat calmly and felt no symptoms, he realized that the bite was what herpetologists refer to as a dry bite - cobras sometimes conserve their venom.

They are capable of delivering what is known as a "dry bite", in which no venom is injected at all, but a bite from any venomous snake should be considered serious, and immediate treatment sought.

Older poets - particularly older female poets - are often held up as representatives of all that is "life-affirming," but Ponsot's best work has a dry bite that would make lunch meat out of Oprah, to say nothing of Dr. Phil.