a large crocodilian, Alligator mississipiensis, of the southern US, having powerful jaws and sharp teeth and differing from the crocodiles in having a shorter and broader snout: family Alligatoridae (alligators and caymans)
2.
a similar but smaller species, A. sinensis, occurring in China near the Yangtse River
3.
any crocodilian belonging to the family Alligatoridae
4.
any of various tools or machines having adjustable toothed jaws, used for gripping, crushing, or compacting
[C17: from Spanish el lagarto the lizard, from Latin lacerta]
1560s, lagarto, modern form attested from 1620s, a corruption of Sp. el lagarto (de Indias) "the lizard (of the Indies)," from L. lacertus (see lizard). Alligarter was an early variant. The slang meaning "non-playing devotee of swing music" is attested from 1936; the phrase
see you later, alligator is from a 1957 song title.
n. a long, heavy, black segment of the outside of a tire, usually a truck tire, found on the highway. : We dodged off onto the shoulder to avoid running over an alligator. , A gator bashed in the bottom of my gas tank.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences
It's also the home of more alligators, and the site of more alligator attacks, than anywhere else.
Not too many alligator-infested areas in any of the areas covered by my various maps, charts, and what-have-you.
The problem is not, in my opinion, alligator regulators but myna bird legislators.
The suitcase he used, one of those alligator-print jobs, was hauled down from the attic.
So the alligator thrives, while the tiger struggles.
Watch for the occasional alligator crossing the fairway.
One settling pond even had a resident alligator, he recalled.
These he color-coordinates with silky haberdashery and alligator loafers dyed to match.
But biologists worry that threatened species such as the alligator snapping turtle may inadvertently be affected.
The researchers were tipped off to this deep link by some anatomical similarities among bird and alligator lungs.