iguana

[ ih-gwah-nuh ]

/ ɪˈgwɑ nə /

noun

a large, arboreal lizard, Iguana iguana, native to Central and South America, having stout legs and a crest of spines from neck to tail.

any of various related lizards of the genera Iguana, Ctenosaura, Conolophus, and Amblyrhynchus.

Nearby words

ignoratio elenchi, ignore, ignotum per ignotius, igorot, igraine, iguana, iguanid, iguanodon, iguassú, iguassú falls, iguazú

Origin of iguana

1545–55; < Spanish < Arawak iwana

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

Examples from the Web for iguana

Williams would have only one more commercial success, Night of the Iguana in 1961, after his partnership with Kazan ended.
John Lahr’s Biography Perfectly Captures Tennessee Williams’ Tortured Greatness|Wendy Smith|September 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
On a limb close by hung the hideous, human-like carcass of an iguana, still writhing.
The Rifle Rangers|Captain Mayne Reid
Yucatan is the happy hunting ground for the largest land lizard known to Natural History, the iguana.
The American Egypt|Channing Arnold
It looked like a small alligator, and was indeed an iguana, one of the few reptiles of these islands.
Pieces of Eight|Richard le Gallienne

There he found the iguana saying, “I want to marry your daughter.”
Filipino Popular Tales|Dean S. Fansler
The iguana, as this lizard is called locally, seems to be uncommon in the forested areas of southern El Petn.
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Rainforests of Southern El Peten, Guatemala|William E. Duellman

British Dictionary definitions for iguana

iguana

/ (ɪˈɡwɑːnə) /

noun

either of two large tropical American arboreal herbivorous lizards of the genus Iguana, esp I. iguana (common iguana), having a greyish-green body with a row of spines along the back: family Iguanidae

Also called: iguanid (ɪˈɡwɑːnɪd) any other lizard of the tropical American family Iguanidae

another name for leguaan

Derived Formsiguanian, noun, adjective

Word Origin for iguana

C16: from Spanish, from Arawak iwana

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 iguana

iguana

1550s, from Spanish, from Arawakan (W.Indies) iguana, iwana, the local name for the lizard.

Foure footed beastes ... named Iuannas, muche lyke vnto Crocodiles, of eyght foote length, of moste pleasaunte taste. [Richard Eden, "Decades of the New World," 1555]