cockatrice

[ kok-uh-tris ]

/ ˈkɒk ə trɪs /

noun

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).

a venomous serpent. Isa. 11:8.

Nearby words

cockalorum, cockamamie, cockapoo, cockatiel, cockatoo, cockatrice, cockayne, cockayne's syndrome, cockboat, cockchafer, cockcroft

Origin of cockatrice

1350–1400; Middle English cocatrice < Middle French cocatris < Medieval Latin caucātrīces (plural), Latin *calcātrīx (see -trix), feminine of *calcātor tracker, equivalent to calcā(re) to tread, verbal derivative of calx heel + -tor -tor; rendering Greek ichneúmon ichneumon

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cockatrice

Even in this case, however, the word is rendered as Cockatrice in the marginal translation.
Bible Animals;|J. G. Wood
As for the cockatrice, he was not going to stand that sort of thing for a moment.
The Book of Dragons|Edith Nesbit
"They were my brothers and sisters; I remember them," said the Cockatrice.
Moonshine & Clover|Laurence Housman
So it toys with leviathan, and 'lays its hand on the cockatrice den,' and my text is an instance of this.
Expositions of Holy Scripture|Alexander Maclaren

Edmund had run back to the cockatrice, and it had told him what to do.
The Book of Dragons|Edith Nesbit

British Dictionary definitions for cockatrice

cockatrice

/ (ˈkɒkətrɪs, -ˌtraɪs) /

noun

a legendary monster, part snake and part cock, that could kill with a glance

another name for basilisk (def. 1)

Word Origin for cockatrice

C14: from Old French cocatris, from Medieval Latin cocatrix, from Late Latin calcātrix trampler, tracker (translating Greek ikhneumon ichneumon), from Latin calcāre to tread, from calx heel

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