salamander

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“
When she spots a salamander, which is difficult since they resemble 6 - to 8-inch sticks, she pulls over, hops out of the car and moves the animal from one side of the road to the other.

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun Any of various small lizardlike amphibians of the order Caudata, having porous scaleless skin and four, often weak or rudimentary legs.
  2. noun A mythical creature, generally resembling a lizard, believed capable of living in or withstanding fire.
  3. noun In the occult philosophy of Paracelsus, a being having fire as its element.
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Examples (50)

  • ‘I wonder why the salamander is in pieces and is covered in what looks like soot I wonder whether he carved them himself?’ said Laura, ignoring the work of some iconoclast ‘Our slumbering red-beard?’ suggested Dame Beatrice. —  My Bones Will Keep - Gladys Mitchell- Bradley 35
  • Above the oblong was a salamander, the Kings particular device, with many other ornaments appropriate to the Ionic architecture of the whole design. —  The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
  • He stomped the roach and fed it to a salamander, then fed salamander parts to some Easter chicks he discovered in a homemade incubator. —  F ;SF; - vol 100 issue 02 - February 2001
  • I fired up like a wounded salamander, and I went back and hugged that poor cactus until all its needles burst into flame. —  Castle Roogna
  • Or he would have changed a centaur into a salamander, and used it to set the bodies on fire, reducing them quickly to ashes. —  Castle Roogna
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English salamandre, from Old French, from Latin salamandra, from Greek.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English salamandre, from Old French salamandre, salemandre, salmendre, French salamandre = Provencal Spanish Portuguese Italian salamandra = D. G. Danish Swedish salamander, from Latin salamandra, from Greek σαλαμάνδρα, a kind of lizard supposed to be an extinguisher of fire; of Eastern origin; cf. Persian samandar, a salamander.
 

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/ˈsæləmændər/
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