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crocodile
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English Dictionary: Crocodile by the DICT Development Group
2 results for Crocodile
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
crocodile
n
  1. large voracious aquatic reptile having a long snout with massive jaws and sharp teeth and a body covered with bony plates; of sluggish tropical waters
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Crocodile \Croc"o*dile\ (kr?k"?-d?l; 277), n. [L. crocodilus,
      Gr. [?][?][?][?][?]: cf. F. crocodile. Cf. {Cookatrice}.]
      1. (Zo[94]l.) A large reptile of the genus {Crocodilus}, of
            several species. They grow to the length of sixteen or
            eighteen feet, and inhabit the large rivers of Africa,
            Asia, and America. The eggs, laid in the sand, are hatched
            by the sun's heat. The best known species is that of the
            Nile ({C. vulgaris}, or {C. Niloticus}). The Florida
            crocodile ({C. Americanus}) is much less common than the
            alligator and has longer jaws. The name is also sometimes
            applied to the species of other related genera, as the
            gavial and the alligator.
  
      2. (Logic) A fallacious dilemma, mythically supposed to have
            been first used by a crocodile.
  
      {Crocodile bird} (Zo[94]l.), an African plover ({Pluvianus
            [91]gypticus}) which alights upon the crocodile and
            devours its insect parasites, even entering its open mouth
            (according to reliable writers) in pursuit of files, etc.;
            -- called also {Nile bird}. It is the {trochilos} of
            ancient writers.
  
      {Crocodile tears}, false or affected tears; hypocritical
            sorrow; -- derived from the fiction of old travelers, that
            crocodiles shed tears over their prey.
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