CHAMELEON

chameleon, chamaeleon

(noun) lizard of Africa and Madagascar able to change skin color and having a projectile tongue

Chamaeleon, Chameleon

(noun) a faint constellation in the polar region of the southern hemisphere near Apus and Mensa

chameleon

(noun) a changeable or inconstant person

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

chameleon (plural chameleons)

A small to mid-size reptile, of the family Chamaeleonidae, and one of the best known lizard families able to change color and project its long tongue.

A person with inconstant behavior; one able to quickly adjust to new circumstances.

(physics) A hypothetical scalar particle with a non-linear self-interaction, giving it an effective mass that depends on its environment: the presence of other fields.

Holonyms

• (Individual Chamaeleonidae) Starship

Adjective

chameleon (not comparable)

Describing something that changes color.

Source: Wiktionary

Cha*me"le*on, n. Etym: [L. Chamaeleon, Gr. Humble, and Lion.] (Zoöl.)

Definition: A lizardlike reptile of the genus Chamæleo, of several species, found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. The skin is covered with fine granmulations; the tail is prehensile, and the body is much compressed laterally, giving it a high back.

Note: Its color changes more or less with the color of the objects about it, or with its temper when disturbed. In a cool, dark place it is nearly white, or grayish; on admitting the light, it changes to brown, bottle-green, or blood red, of various shades, and more or less mottled in arrangment. The American chameleons belong to Anolis and allied genera of the family Iguanidæ. They are more slender in form than the true chameleons, but have the same power of changing their colors. Chameleon mineral (Chem.), the compound called potassium permanganate, a dark violet, crystalline substance, KMnO4, which in formation passes through a peculiar succession of color from green to blue, purple, red, etc. See Potassium permanganate, under Potassium.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition