basilisk Hear it!

basilisk definition

basi·lisk (bas′ə lisk′, baz′-)

noun

  1. a mythical lizardlike monster with supposedly fatal breath and glance, fabled to have been hatched by a serpent from a cock's egg
  2. any of a genus (Basiliscus) of iguanas with an erectile crest on the back and tail and an inflatable pouch on the head
  3. an obsolete kind of cannon

Etymology: ME < L basiliscus < Gr basiliskos, dim. of basileus, king

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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