A large venomous pit viper snake of Central and South America; also, historically, a person skilled at traversing or controlling the bush.
The snake name combines 'bush' + 'master' (one who masters). The snake term likely originated from colonial naturalists describing it as a master of the bush environment. The occupational sense parallels 'headmaster' or 'harbormaster.'
The bushmaster is the longest pit viper in the world, and its name reveals how European colonizers applied their hierarchical language to new animals—calling it a 'master' of the bush rather than inventing a new word, they used linguistic colonization alongside actual colonization.
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