cayman
[key-muh n]
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caiman
or cay·man
[key-muh n]
- any of several tropical American crocodilians of the genus Caiman and allied genera: some are endangered.
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Origin of caiman
1570–80; < Spanish caimán < Carib
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cayman
Contemporary Examples
The British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Belize, and Switzerland.
Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign toasted its top donors Wednesday aboard a 150-foot yacht flying the flag of the Cayman Islands.
Biggest response: "He holds as much as $8 million in accounts in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying taxes on it."
He railed about how the law was being obstructed in Guantánamo Bay and about money laundering in the Cayman Islands and in London.
Historical Examples
The screams of the poor fellow were terrible as the cayman was running off with him.
The Western WorldW.H.G. Kingston
On the 1st of December they caught sight, far away in the south, of the grand island of Cayman.
The cayman, not liking the morsel, looked about for something more to his taste.
A Voyage round the WorldW.H.G. Kingston
“If the cayman had come near me, he would have had to repent of his boldness,” he observed.
The WanderersW.H.G. Kingston
That cayman with his mouth open is like the Yankee waiting for Colombia to walk in.
The Gilded ManClifford Smyth
cayman
caiman
- any tropical American crocodilian of the genus Caiman and related genera, similar to alligators but with a more heavily armoured belly: family Alligatoridae (alligators, etc)
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Word Origin
C16: from Spanish caimán, from Carib cayman, probably of African origin
caiman
- a variant spelling of cayman
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for cayman
caiman
n.
also cayman, 1570s, from Portuguese or Spanish caiman, from Carib acayouman "crocodile," or perhaps from a Congo African word applied to the reptiles in the new world by African slaves. "The name appears to be one of those like anaconda and bom, boma, which the Portuguese or Spaniards very early caught up in one part of the world, and naturalized in another." [OED]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper