Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various large aquatic reptiles of the family Crocodylidae that are native to tropical and subtropical regions and have thick, armorlike skin and long tapering jaws.
  • noun A crocodilian reptile, such as an alligator, caiman, or gharial.
  • noun Leather made from crocodile skin.
  • noun Chiefly British A line of people, especially pupils or choir members, standing two abreast.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An animal of the order Crocodilia, and especially of the family Crocodilidæ (see these words).
  • noun In logic, a sophism of counter-questioning.
  • Like a crocodile, or like something pertaining to a crocodile.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) 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 (Crocodilus vulgaris, or Crocodilus Niloticus). The Florida crocodile (Crocodilus 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.
  • noun (Logic) A fallacious dilemma, mythically supposed to have been first used by a crocodile.
  • noun (Zoöl.) an African plover (Pluvianus ægypticus) 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.
  • noun false or affected tears; hypocritical sorrow; -- derived from the fiction of old travelers, that crocodiles shed tears over their prey.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of a variety of related predatory amphibious reptiles, related to the alligator.
  • noun A long line or procession of people (especially children) walking together.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun 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

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English cocodril, from Old French, from Latin cocodrillus, variant of crocodīlus, from Greek krokodīlos : krokē, pebble + drīlos, circumcised man, worm.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French cocodrille (modern crocodile), from Medieval Latin cocodrillus, from Latin crocodilus, from Ancient Greek κροκόδειλος (krokodeilos). The word was later refashioned after the Latin and Greek forms.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Crocodiles swallow stones to help them dive deeper.

    May 7, 2008

  • Five little monkeys

    Swinging from a tree;

    Teasing Uncle Crocodile,

    Merry as can be.

    Swinging high, swinging low,

    Swinging left and right:

    'Dear Uncle Crocodile,

    Come and take a bite!'

    - Laura E. Richards, 'The Monkeys And The Crocodile'.

    November 9, 2008

  • I'm not sure about the 'sluggish waters' bit. Crocodiles are as adept at swimming around the coast for hundreds of kilometres as they are at lurking in wetland meanders.

    November 10, 2008

  • *shudders*

    Crocs give me the heebies.

    I'm glad I don't live up North.

    November 10, 2008

  • fatal pre-game cleansing ritual

    November 15, 2008

  • Railroad telegraphers' notation meaning "Not on account of contract". --US Railway Association, Standard Cipher Code, 1906. What? we didn't order a crocodile. Who put that in the boxcar?

    January 21, 2013

  • Re etymology, etymonline.com notes: "Beekes writes that 'Frisk's etymology as a compound from krokē 'gravel' and drilos 'worm' (with dissimilation) should be forgotten'."

    July 30, 2021