monitor lizard
nounEtymology From the obsolete taxa Monitor and Lacerta monitor now displaced by Varanus within the single-genus family Varanidae. The word Monitor is a calque of German Warner, which is a loanword from Arabic وَرَن (waran). The conflation of the two words was encouraged by the lizards' habit of standing on their hind legs and appearing to monitor their surroundings.
1
Any of various large carnivorous lizards of the family Varanidae, all of whose extant species are of genus Varanus, native to Africa, Asia and Australia.
2
Also: the earless monitor lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis, the sole member of the family Lanthanotidae).
- Derived terms
- earless monitor lizard
- Related terms
- goanna, Komodo dragon