Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Crocodile
Croc′o-dile
(krŏk′ō̍-dīl; 277)
, Noun.
1.
(Zool.)
A large reptile of the genus
Crocodilus
, of several species. They grow to the length of sixteen or eighteen feet, and inhabit the large rivers of Africa, Asia, and America. The eggs, laid in the sand, are hatched by the sun’s heat. The best known species is that of the Nile (Crocodilus vulgaris
, or Crocodilus Niloticus
). The Florida crocodile (Crocodilus Americanus
) is much less common than the alligator and has longer jaws. The name is also sometimes applied to the species of other related genera, as the gavial and the alligator. 2.
(Logic)
A fallacious dilemma, mythically supposed to have been first used by a crocodile.
Crocodile bird
(Zool.)
, an African plover (
– Pluvianus ægypticus
) which alights upon the crocodile and devours its insect parasites, even entering its open mouth (according to reliable writers) in pursuit of files, etc.; – called also Nile bird
. It is the trochilos
of ancient writers. Crocodile tears
, false or affected tears; hypocritical sorrow; – derived from the fiction of old travelers, that crocodiles shed tears over their prey.
Webster 1828 Edition
Crocodile
CROCODILE
,Noun.
1.
An amphibious animal of the genus Lacerta or lizard, of the largest kind. It has a naked body, with four feet and a tail; it has five toes on the fore feet, and four on the hind feet. It grows to the length of sixteen or eighteen feet, runs swiftly on land, but does not easily turn itself. It inhabits the large rivers in Africa and Asia, and lays its eggs, resembling those of a goose, in the sand, to be hatched by the heat of the sun. [See Alligator.]2.
In rhetoric, a captious and sophistical argument contrived to draw one into a snare.CROCODILE
,Adj.