Definitions for crocodile
ˈkrɒk əˌdaɪlcroc·o·dile

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:1.0 / 1 vote

1. crocodilenoun

   large voracious aquatic reptile having a long snout with massive jaws and sharp teeth and a body covered with bony plates; of sluggish tropical waters

WiktionaryRate this definition:2.5 / 2 votes

1. crocodilenoun

   Any of a variety of related predatory amphibious reptiles, related to the alligator.

2. crocodilenoun

   A long line or procession of people (especially children) walking together.

3. Etymology: From cocodrille (modern crocodile), from cocodrillus, from crocodilus, from κροκόδειλος. The word was later refashioned after the Latin and Greek forms.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. CROCODILEnoun

   An amphibious voracious animal, in shape resembling a lizard, and found in Egypt and the Indies. It is covered with very hard scales, which cannot, without great difficulty, be pierced; except under the belly, where the skin is tender. It has a wide throat, with several rows of teeth, sharp and separated, which enter one another. Though its four legs are very short, it runs with great swiftness; but does not easily turn itself. It is long lived, and is said to grow continually to its death; but this is not probable. Some are fifteen or eighteen cubits long. Its sight is very piercing upon the ground, but in the water it sees but dimly; and it is said to spend the four winter months under water. When its bowels are taken out, or it is wounded, it smells very agreeably. Crocodiles lay their eggs, resembling goose-eggs, sometimes amounting to sixty, on the sand near the waterside, covering them with the sand, that the heat of the sun may contribute to hatch them. The Ichneumon, or Indian rat, which is as large as a tame cat, is said to break the crocodile’s eggs whenever it finds them; and also, that it gets into the very belly of this creature, while it is asleep with its throat open, gnaws its entrails, and kills it. Augustin Calmet

   Etymology: from ϰρόϰος, saffron, and δειλων, fearing.

   Glo’ster’s show
   Beguiles him; as the mournful crocodile,
   With sorrow, snares relenting passengers. William Shakespeare, Hen. VI.

   Crocodiles were thought to be peculiar unto the Nile. Brown.

   Cæsar will weep, the crocodile will weep. Dryden.

   Enticing crocodiles, whose tears are death;
   Syrens, that murder with enchanting breath. George Granville.

   Crocodile is also a little animal, otherwise called stinx, very much like the lizard, or small crocodile. It lives by land and water; has four short small legs, a very sharp muzzle, and a short small tail. It is pretty enough to look at, being covered all over with little scales of the colour of silver, intermixt with brown, and of a gold colour upon the back. It always remains little, and is found in Egypt near the Red Sea, in Lybia, and in the Indies. Antoine Furetière.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Crocodile

   Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia, which includes the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae), the gharial and false gharial (family Gavialidae) among other extinct taxa. Although they appear similar, crocodiles, alligators and the gharial belong to separate biological families. The gharial, with its narrow snout, is easier to distinguish, while morphological differences are more difficult to spot in crocodiles and alligators. The most obvious external differences are visible in the head, with crocodiles having narrower and longer heads, with a more V-shaped than a U-shaped snout compared to alligators and caimans. Another obvious trait is that the upper and lower jaws of the crocodiles are the same width, and the teeth in the lower jaw fall along the edge or outside the upper jaw when the mouth is closed; therefore, all teeth are visible, unlike an alligator, which possesses in the upper jaw small depressions into which the lower teeth fit. Also, when the crocodile's mouth is closed, the large fourth tooth in the lower jaw fits into a constriction in the upper jaw. For hard-to-distinguish specimens, the protruding tooth is the most reliable feature to define the species' family. Crocodiles have more webbing on the toes of the hind feet and can better tolerate saltwater due to specialized salt glands for filtering out salt, which are present, but non-functioning, in alligators. Another trait that separates crocodiles from other crocodilians is their much higher levels of aggression.Crocodile size, morphology, behaviour and ecology differ somewhat among species. However, they have many similarities in these areas as well. All crocodiles are semiaquatic and tend to congregate in freshwater habitats such as rivers, lakes, wetlands and sometimes in brackish water and saltwater. They are carnivorous animals, feeding mostly on vertebrates such as fish, reptiles, birds and mammals, and sometimes on invertebrates such as molluscs and crustaceans, depending on species and age. All crocodiles are tropical species that, unlike alligators, are very sensitive to cold. They separated from other crocodilians during the Eocene epoch, about 55 million years ago. Many species are at the risk of extinction, some being classified as critically endangered.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Crocodilenoun

   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 (C. vulgaris, or C. Niloticus). The Florida crocodile (C. 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. Crocodilenoun

   a fallacious dilemma, mythically supposed to have been first used by a crocodile

3. Etymology: [L. crocodilus, Gr. kroko`deilos: cf. F. crocodile. Cf. Cookatrice.]

FreebaseRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Crocodile

   Crocodiles or true crocodiles are large aquatic tetrapods that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Crocodylinae, in which all its members are considered true crocodiles, is classified as a biological subfamily. A broader sense of the term crocodile, Crocodylidae, that includes the tomistoma, was excluded in this article since new genetic studies reveal the possibility of tomistoma as a close relative of the gharial. This article applies the term crocodile only to the species within the subfamily of Crocodylinae. The term is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: which includes all members of Crocodylidae, including the tomistoma, the alligators and caimans and the gharials, and the rest of Crocodylomorpha, which includes all of the prehistoric crocodile relatives and ancestors. Although they appear to be similar to the untrained eye, crocodiles, alligators and the gharial belong to seperate biological families. The gharial having a narrow snout is easier to distinguish, while morphological differences are more difficult to spot in crocodiles and alligators. The most obvious external differences are visible in the head with crocodiles having narrower and longer heads, with a more V-shaped than a U-shaped snout compared to alligators and caimans. Another obvious trait is the upper and lower jaws of the crocodiles are the same width, and teeth in the lower jaw fall along the edge or outside the upper jaw when the mouth is closed; therefore all teeth are visible unlike an alligator; which possesses small depressions in the upper jaw where the lower teeth fit into. Also when the crocodile's mouth is closed, the large fourth tooth in the lower jaw fits into a constriction in the upper jaw. For hard-to-distinguish specimens, the protruding tooth is the most reliable feature to define the family, the species belongs to. Crocodiles have more webbing on the toes of the hind feet and can better tolerate saltwater due to specialized salt glands for filtering out salt, which are present but non-functioning in alligators. Another trait that separates crocodiles from other crocodilians, are the much higher levels of aggression. All reptiles are all scaled diapsids, which are divided into two groups: crocodilians are archosaurs, along with birds and the extinct dinosaurs, while other reptiles are lepidosaurs.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:2.0 / 1 vote

1. Crocodile

   krok′o-dīl, n. a genus of large amphibious saurian reptiles, including the crocodile of the Nile, and also the alligators and gavials.—adj. and n. Crocodil′ian.—n. Crocodil′ity, captious arguing.—Crocodile tears, affected tears, hypocritical grief—from the old story that crocodiles (which have large lachrymal glands) shed tears over the hard necessity of killing animals for food. [O. Fr. cocodrille—L. crocodilus—Gr. krokodeilos, a lizard.]

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. crocodile

   The crocodile symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the crocodile symbol and its characteristic.

Matched Categories

1. • Crocodilian Reptile

Anagrams for crocodile »

1. cordicole

How to pronounce crocodile?

1. Alex

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   David

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   Mark

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   Daniel

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   Libby

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   Mia

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   Karen

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   Hayley

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   Neerja

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   Oliver

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How to say crocodile in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of crocodile in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of crocodile in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of crocodile in a Sentence

1. Sir Winston Churchill:

   An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last.

2. Christopher Walken:

   I like him. He's very sad about his hand. There is a crocodile chasing him and he is lonely, I think, he wants vengeance and he also wants a mother. He is very upset Peter Pan has found a mother and he wants to take her away and be his mother. So, he's a little sad.

3. Danie Pienaar:

   It had him in his mouth and was swimming in the water with him, it was in the public area ... we also don't know if there is anything wrong with the crocodile.

4. Richard Leakey:

   This is crocodile Lucy, and she was left in the field because shes too big to move. Shes been very damaged over time thats why it was particularly important to get a scan.

5. Jonas Wahlstrm:

   What I saw was that he climbed up on a rock and was holding one of his arms over the glass barrier of the crocodile exhibit because he was going to give a speech, he turned his back and the crocodile saw his hand coming down from his arm and just attacked him and bit him.

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