crocodile
UK /ˈkɹɒkədaɪl/ · US /ˈkɹɑkədaɪl/ noun, verb
Forms crocodiles crocodiling crocodiled
- noun Any of the predatory amphibious reptiles of the family Crocodylidae; (loosely) a crocodilian, any species of the order Crocodilia, which also includes the alligators, caimans and gavials.
- noun A long line or procession of people (especially children) walking together.
- noun (logic) A fallacious dilemma, mythically supposed to have been first used by a crocodile.
- noun (Philippines, figurative) greedy or corrupt person (especially a politician or any public official)
- verb (intransitive, slang) To speak another language than Esperanto at an Esperanto-language gathering.
Synonyms
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English cocodrill, cokadrill, cokedril, from Old French cocodril (modern French crocodile), from Medieval Latin cocodrillus, from Latin crocodilus, from Ancient Greek κροκόδειλος (krokódeilos). The word was later refashioned after the Latin and Greek forms. Doublet of krokodil.
Derived from the noun as a calque of Esperanto krokodili.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A large reptile of the genus Crocodilus, of several species.
- noun A fallacious dilemma, mythically supposed to have been first used by a crocodile. Crocodile bird (Zoöl.), an African plover (Pluvianus ægypticus) which alights upon the crocodile and devours its insect parasites, even entering its open mouth (according to reliable writers) in pursuit of files, etc.; --called also Nile bird. It is the trochilos of ancient writers.
Etymology [L. crocodilus, Gr. crocodile. Cf. Cookatrice.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “crocodile”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details