Gila monster

American  

noun

1. a large, venomous lizard, Heloderma suspectum, of the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico, covered with beadlike scales of yellow, orange, and black.

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Gila monster British  

/ ˈhiːlə /

noun

1. a large venomous brightly coloured lizard, Heloderma suspectum, inhabiting deserts of the southwestern US and Mexico and feeding mostly on eggs and small mammals: family Helodermatidae

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Etymology

Origin of Gila monster

1875–80, after Gila

Example Sentences

The facility with a source of naturally warm groundwater takes in alligators and other rescued, confiscated and abandoned reptiles, including a Gila monster after the death of a pet store owner.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 21, 2024

Instead of the human hormone, its backbone was, improbably, a similar peptide in the venom of a giant lizard, the Gila monster.

From Science Magazine • Dec. 13, 2023

Calder said the fossilized creature was probably similar in appearance to a Gila monster.

From Washington Post • Sep. 2, 2022

Maybe a panamint rattlesnake or a Gila monster.

From New York Times • Jul. 25, 2017

In another cage a Gila monster with a skin like a beaded bag reared slowly up and clawed heavily and sluggishly at the wire.

From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck