Lizard

//ˈlɪz.ɚd// name, noun, slang

name, noun, slang ·Common ·Middle school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any reptile of the order Squamata that is not a snake or part of Mosasauria — typically characterised by a rounded torso, a short neck with an elevated head, four limbs and a long tail, although some species are legless.

    "The cicale above in the lime, / And the lizards below in the grass, / Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, / Listening to my sweet pipings."

  2. 2
    relatively long-bodied reptile with usually two pairs of legs and a tapering tail wordnet
  3. 3
    Lizard skin, the skin of these reptiles. attributive

    "Silver bells jingling from your black lizard boots, my baby / Silver foil to trim your wedding gown"

  4. 4
    a man who idles about in the lounges of hotels and bars in search of women who would support him wordnet
  5. 5
    An unctuous person. colloquial
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A coward. colloquial
  2. 7
    A hand forming a "D" shape with the tips of the thumb and index finger touching (a handshape resembling a lizard), that beats paper and Spock and loses to rock and scissors in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
  3. 8
    A person who idly spends time in a specified place, especially a promiscuous female. in-compounds

    "lounge lizard; lot lizard; beach lizard; truck stop lizard"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A peninsula in southern Cornwall, England.
  2. 2
    A village in Landewednack parish, on the peninsula near Lizard Point, Cornwall, the most southerly village in England, also known as Lizard Town (OS grid ref SW7012)

Synonyms

All synonyms
chameleonchickencowardcravendinosaurdragon

Example

More examples

"She has a tattoo of a lizard on her thigh."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English lesarde, lisarde, from Anglo-Norman lusard, from Old French lesard (compare French lézard), from Latin lacertus, which is of obscure origin. Displaced native Middle English aske, from Old English āþexe (> modern English ask, askard).

Etymology 2

Recorded as Lisart 1086 (Domesday Book); a corruption of Cornish Lysardh (literally “high court”), influenced by lizard.

Related phrases

Chinese crocodile lizardEastwood's whip lizardEuropean green lizardGoldman's bunchgrass lizardJesus Christ lizardJesus lizardJew lizardLa Gomera giant lizardMonte Cristo arboreal alligator lizardSaint Croix ground lizardTenerife giant lizardTexas spiny lizard

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.