lizard
UK /ˈlɪzəd/ · US /ˈlɪzɚd/ noun, proper noun
Forms lizards the Lizard
- noun Any reptile of the order Squamata that is not a snake or mosasaur—typically characterised by a rounded torso, a short neck with an elevated head, a long tail and four limbs, although some species are legless.
- noun (chiefly in attributive use) Lizard skin, the skin of these reptiles.
- noun (colloquial) An unctuous person.
- noun (colloquial) A coward.
- noun (rock paper scissors) A hand forming a "D" shape with the tips of the thumb and index finger touching (a handshape resembling a lizard), that beats paper and Spock and loses to rock and scissors in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
- noun (in compounds) A person who idly spends time in a specified place, especially a promiscuous woman. “lounge lizard; lot lizard; beach lizard; truck stop lizard”
- proper noun A peninsula in southern Cornwall, England.
- proper noun A village in Landewednack parish, on the peninsula near Lizard Point, Cornwall, the most southerly village in England, also known as Lizard Town (OS grid ref SW7012)
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English lesarde, lisarde, from Anglo-Norman lusard, from Old French lesard (compare French lézard), from Latin lacertus, which is of obscure origin. Displaced native Middle English aske, from Old English āþexe (> modern English ask, askard).
Recorded as Lisart 1086 (Domesday Book); a corruption of Cornish Lysardh (literally “high court”), influenced by lizard.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any one of the numerous species of reptiles belonging to the order Lacertilia; sometimes, also applied to reptiles of other orders, as the Hatteria.
- noun A piece of rope with thimble or block spliced into one or both of the ends. R. H. Dana, Ir.
Etymology [OE. lesarde, OF. lesarde, F. lézard, L. lacerta, lacertus. Cf. Alligator, Lacerta.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “lizard”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details