cockatrice

American  

[kok-uh-tris] / ˈkɒk ə trɪs /

noun

1. a legendary monster with a deadly glance, supposedly hatched by a serpent from the egg of a rooster, and commonly represented with the head, legs, and wings of a rooster and the body and tail of a serpent.

2. (in the Bible) a venomous serpent.

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cockatrice British  

/ -ˌtraɪs, ˈkɒkətrɪs /

noun

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

2. another name for basilisk

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Etymology

Origin of cockatrice

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English cocatrice, from Middle French cocatris, from Medieval Latin caucātrīces (plural), Latin calcātrīx (unattested), feminine of calcātor (unattested) ”tracker,” equivalent to calcā(re) “to tread,” verbal derivative of calx “heel” + -tor agent suffix; the Latin was a direct translation of Greek word ichneúmōn, having the same meaning. See -trix, -tor, ichneumon

Example Sentences

"Here it is," said Edmund, and the cockatrice woke up at once and asked the drakling very politely to sit down and wait.

From The Book of Dragons by Fell, H. Granville

Both creatures are represented accurately in the mediæval traditional form, the cockatrice half dragon, half cock; the deaf adder laying one ear against the ground and stopping the other with her tail.

From Our Fathers Have Told Us Part I. The Bible of Amiens by Ruskin, John

A cockatrice hast thou hatch’d to the world, Whose unavoided eye is murderous!”

From Folk-lore of Shakespeare by Thiselton-Dyer, Thomas Firminger

And instead of ‘dearest Miss,’ Jewel, honey, sweetheart, bliss, And those forms of old admiring, Call her cockatrice and siren.—C.

From Hopes and Fears or, scenes from the life of a spinster by Yonge, Charlotte Mary

He thanked the cockatrice for his kindness, and got home just in time to have breakfast and get to school by nine.

From The Book of Dragons by Fell, H. Granville