frilled lizard

American  

noun

1. a medium-sized Australian lizard, Chlamydosaurus kingi, having a large, cloaklike flap of skin on the neck that stiffens during courtship or threat displays, forming a wide ruff.

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Etymology

Origin of frilled lizard

First recorded in 1860–65; frill + -ed ³

Example Sentences

Perhaps the most familiar is the Frilled lizard, Frilled dragon or Frillynecked dragon Chlamydosaurus kingii, a highly variable, mostly insectivorous agamid that reaches 85 cm in total length and is predominantly arboreal.

From Scientific American

In one poem she presents "the frilled lizard, the kind with no legs, and the three-horned chameleon . . . that take to flight if you do not."

From Time Magazine Archive