lizard
nounAU, UK /ˈlɪzəd/ · US /ˈlɪzɚd/
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).
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.
- The cicale above in the lime, / And the lizards below in the grass, / Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, / Listening to my sweet pipings.a. 1823 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Hymn of Pan”, in Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, editor, Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley, London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John and Henry L[eigh] Hunt, […], published 1824, →OCLC, page 169:
- The forms of the serpent and lizard exhibit almost every element of beauty and horror in strange combination; […]1851, John Ruskin, chapter XX, in The Stones of Venice, volume I (The Foundations), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § XXX, pages 223–224:
3 more examples
- Hooded rattlesnakes, horned toads, and lizards crawl in the dust and among the rocks.1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 22:
- When held in the hand, the lizard produces an amorous stimulus.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 139:
- Pinned against my neighbours, I could feel small hands, fleeting as lizards, fluttering lightly through my pockets in search of money, mobile, wallet.2009, Michela Wrong, It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle Blower:
Lizard skin, the skin of these reptiles.
- Silver bells jingling from your black lizard boots, my baby / Silver foil to trim your wedding gown1990 October 28, Paul Simon, “Proof”, in The Rhythm of the Saints, Warner Bros.:
Colloquial An unctuous person.
Colloquial A coward.
Games, 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.
In compounds A person who idly spends time in a specified place, especially a promiscuous female.
- lounge lizard; lot lizard; beach lizard; truck stop lizard
- Derived terms
119 terms
alderman lizard, alligator lizard, alpine meadow lizard, Balkan green lizard, basilisk lizard, beaded lizard, bearded lizard, bleed the lizard, bluelizardite, blue-tongued lizard, blue-tongue lizard, bobtail lizard, bunchgrass lizard, bunk lizard, caiman lizard, canteen lizard, changeable lizard, Chinese crocodile lizard, collared lizard, crib lizard, crocodile lizard, dabb lizard, draco lizard, dragon lizard, drain the lizard, Eastwood's whip lizard, fence lizard, flat lizard, flying lizard, frilled lizard, frilled neck lizard, frilled-neck lizard, frill-necked lizard, frilly lizard, fringe-toed lizard, fuck-you lizard, glass lizard, Goldman's bunchgrass lizard, green lizard, ground lizard, horned lizard, house lizard, Jesus lizard, Jesus Christ lizard, Jew lizard, La Gomera giant lizard, lasagna lizard, legless lizard, leopard lizard, lesbian lizard, lion lizard, lizard beetle, lizard brain, lizard brained, lizard-brained, Lizardbreath, lizard catshark, lizardfish, lizard fish, lizardfolk, lizard-folk, lizard hawk, lizard-hipped, lizardish, lizardless, lizardlike, lizardling, lizardly, lizardman, lizard man, lizardness, lizardom, lizard orchid, lizard plant, lizardry, lizardskin, lizard-skin, lizard snake, lizard-stone, lizard tail, lizardy, lot lizard, lounge lizard, lounge-lizard, mesquite lizard, monitor lizard, night lizard, ocellated lizard, pinecone lizard, pine lizard, pit lizard, plated lizard, ring-necked lizard, rock lizard, sailfin lizard, Saint Croix ground lizard, sand lizard, scaly lizard, side-blotched lizard, sleepy lizard, snake lizard, spectacled lizard, spiny lizard, spiny-tailed lizard, star lizard, stump-tailed lizard, Tenerife giant lizard, terrible lizard, Texas spiny lizard, thunder lizard, tree lizard, viviparous lizard, wall lizard, Wegner's glass lizard, western fence lizard, whip lizard, woodlizard, worm lizard, zebra-tailed lizard