Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various arachnids of the order Scorpiones, chiefly of warm dry regions, having large claws and a segmented tail that curves over the back and is tipped with a venomous sting.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In zoology, an arthropod of the order Scorpionida.
  • noun Hence Some creature likened to or mistaken for a scorpion, and poisonous or supposed to be so.
  • noun In ichthyology, a scorpion-fish or sea-scorpion; one of several different members of the Scorpænidæ, some of which are also called scorpene and sculpin. See cut under Scorpæna, and etymology of Scolopendra.
  • noun [capitalized] In astronomy, the eighth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about October 23d. See Scorpio, 2.
  • noun A kind of whip said to have been armed with points like that of a scorpion's tail; a scourge, described as having a handle of iron, or of wood braced and ferruled with iron, and two, three, or more chains attached, like the lashes of a whip, and set with balls, rings, or angled and pointed masses of iron.
  • noun An old military engine, used chiefly in the defense of the walls of a town.
  • noun An instrument for grappling a batteringram.
  • noun A gun whose dolphins represented the scorpion.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of pulmonate arachnids of the order Scorpiones, having a suctorial mouth, large claw-bearing palpi, and a caudal sting.
  • noun (Zoöl.), Local, U. S. The pine or gray lizard (Sceloporus undulatus).
  • noun (Zoöl.) The scorpene.
  • noun (Script.) A painful scourge.
  • noun (Astron.) A sign and constellation. See Scorpio.
  • noun (Antiq.) An ancient military engine for hurling stones and other missiles.
  • noun (Zoöl.) See under Book.
  • noun (Zoöl.) See under False, and Book scorpion.
  • noun (Zoöl.) See Nepa.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a neuropterous insect of the genus Panorpa. See Panorpid.
  • noun (Bot.) a plant of the genus Myosotis. M. palustris is the forget-me-not.
  • noun (Bot.) a yellow-flowered leguminous shrub (Coronilla Emerus) having a slender joined pod, like a scorpion's tail. The leaves are said to yield a dye like indigo, and to be used sometimes to adulterate senna.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any shell of the genus Pteroceras. See Pteroceras.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any one of the Pedipalpi.
  • noun (Bot.) any plant of the leguminous genus Scorpiurus, herbs with a circinately coiled pod; -- also called caterpillar.
  • noun (Bot.) a thorny leguminous plant (Genista Scorpius) of Southern Europe.
  • noun (Astron.) the star Antares in the constellation Scorpio.

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

  • noun Any of various arachnids of the order Scorpiones, related to the spiders, characterised by two large front pincers and a curved tail with a poisonous sting in the end.
  • noun An ancient military engine for hurling stones and other missiles.

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

  • noun the eighth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about October 23 to November 21
  • noun arachnid of warm dry regions having a long segmented tail ending in a venomous stinger
  • noun (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Scorpio

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin scorpiō, scorpiōn-, alteration of scorpius, from Greek skorpios.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old (and modern) French scorpion, from Latin scorpio, ultimately from Ancient Greek σκορπίος (skorpios).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word scorpion.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • “The Northrop F-89 Scorpion was an early American jet-powered all-weather interceptor. It has the distinction of being the first combat aircraft armed with nuclear weapons, (the Genie rocket) for air-to-air use.�? More on Wikipedia.

    December 30, 2008

  • a real stinger with a gardenia floating in it

    July 17, 2009

  • located in Merriam Webtster's Notebook Dictionary pg 71

    September 25, 2010