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cockatrice

 - 5 dictionary results

cock⋅a⋅trice

  [kok-uh-tris]
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–noun
1. a legendary monster with a deadly glance, supposedly hatched by a serpent from the egg of a cock, and commonly represented with the head, legs, and wings of a cock and the body and tail of a serpent. Compare basilisk (def. 1).
2. a venomous serpent. Isa. 11:8.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME cocatrice < MF cocatris < ML caucātrīces (pl.), L *calcātrīx (see -trix ), fem. of *calcātor tracker, equiv. to calcā(re) to tread, v. deriv. of calx heel + -tor -tor; rendering Gk ichneúmon ichneumon
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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cock·a·trice   (kŏk'ə-trĭs, -trīs')   
n.   Mythology
A serpent hatched from a cock's egg and having the power to kill by its glance.

[Middle English cocatrice, basilisk, from Old French cocatris, from Medieval Latin cocātrīx, cocātrīc-, possibly alteration of calcātrīx (translation of Greek ikhneumōn, tracker), from Latin calcāre, to track, from calx, calc-, heel.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

cockatrice 
1382, from O.Fr. cocatris, altered by influence of coq from L.L. *calcatrix, from L. calcare "to tread" (calx "heel"), as translation of Gk. ikhneumon, lit. "tracker, tracer." In classical writings, an Egyptian animal of some sort, the mortal enemy of the crocodile, which it tracks down and kills. This vague sense became hopelessly confused in the Christian West, and in England the word ended up applied to the equivalent of the basilisk (q.v.). A serpent hatched from a cock's egg, it was fabled to kill by its glance and could only be slain by tricking it into seeing its own reflection. Belief in them persisted even among the educated because the word was used in the KJV several times to translate a Heb. word for "serpent." In heraldry, half cock, half serpent. Identified variously with the basilisk and the crocodile.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

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."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Encyclopedia

cockatrice

in the legends of Hellenistic and Roman times, a small serpent, possibly the Egyptian cobra, known as a basilikos ("kinglet") and credited with powers of destroying all animal and vegetable life by its mere look or breath. Only the weasel, which secreted a venom deadly to the cockatrice, was safe from its powers

Learn more about cockatrice with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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