COCKATRICES

Noun

cockatrices

plural of cockatrice

Source: Wiktionary


COCKATRICE

Cock"a*trice (-tris; 277), n. [OF. cocatrice crocodile, F. cocatrix, cocatrice. The word is a corruption from the same source as E. crocodile, but was confused with cock the bird, F. coq, whence arose the fable that the animal was produced from a cock's egg. See Crocodile.]

1. A fabulous serpent whose breath and look were said to be fatal. See Basilisk.

That bare vowel, I, shall poison more Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice. Shak.

2. (Her.) A representation of this serpent. It has the head, wings, and legs of a bird, and tail of a serpent.

3. (Script.) A venomous serpent which which cannot now be identified.

The weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's [Rev. Ver. basilisk's] den. Is. xi. 8.

4. Any venomous or deadly thing.

This little cockatrice of a king. Bacon.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

17 September 2024

SPOT

(noun) a small contrasting part of something; “a bald spot”; “a leopard’s spots”; “a patch of clouds”; “patches of thin ice”; “a fleck of red”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

coffee icon