Newt

//ˈnjuːt// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A small lizard-like amphibian in the subfamily Pleurodelinae that lives in the water as an adult.
  2. 2
    small usually bright-colored semiaquatic salamanders of North America and Europe and northern Asia wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To turn (someone) into a newt, especially by magic. transitive

    "If you moved first and newted someone , you were a murderer."

  2. 2
    To (usually temporarily) expel a user from a MUD or similar system broadly, informal, transitive

    "So instead Sredna [presumably an abbreviation of "Nosredna", one of the LambdaMOO wizards] newted Finn. She newted him, and though she did not specify the length of time for which he was to remain newted, it seemed clear enough that forever would be just fine with the wizards."

Synonyms

All synonyms
amphibianaskaskaskardbatrachianeft

Example

More examples

"A salamander, a toad, and a newt are not mammals, but amphibians."

Etymology

From Middle English newte, newete, from rebracketing of Middle English an ewte as a newte (for similar misdivisions compare adder, nickname, apron, umpire, etc.). Middle English evete, eute, euete, ewte (“newt”), derives from Old English efete (“lizard; newt”). Doublet of eft.

Related phrases

California newtIberian ribbed newtalpine newtfire-bellied newtgreat crested newtpaddle-tailed newtpalmate newtpalmated newtpissed as a newtsmooth newtlittle lizardlizard thing

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