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cockatrice |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Cockatrice \Cock"a*trice\ (-tr[imac]s; 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 Note: [Rev. Ver. basilisk's] den. --Is. xi 8. 4. Any venomous or deadly thing This little cockatrice of a king. --Bacon. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: cockatrice n : monster hatched by a reptile from a cock's egg; able to kill with a glance From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: Cockatrice the mediaeval name (a corruption of "crocodile") of a fabulous serpent supposed to be produced from a cock's egg. It is generally supposed to denote the cerastes, or "horned viper," a very poisonous serpent about a foot long. Others think it to be the yellow viper (Daboia xanthina), one of the most dangerous vipers, from its size and its nocturnal habits (Isa. 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; Jer. 8:17; in all which the Revised Version renders the Hebrew _tziph'oni_ by "basilisk"). In Prov. 23:32 the Hebrew _tzeph'a_ is rendered both in the Authorized Version and the Revised Version by "adder;" margin of Revised Version "basilisk," and of Authorized Version "cockatrice."
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