alligator

alligator

See also: Alligator and al·ligàtor

English

WOTD – 2 April 2016

Etymology 1

An American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis

From early Modern English alligater, alligarta, aligarto, alegarto, alagarto, from Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), from Latin lacertus (“lizard”), modern spelling possibly influenced by the unrelated Latin alligator (“one who binds”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tə/
• (General American) enPR: ălʹĭ-gā-tər, IPA^(key): /ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: al‧li‧ga‧tor
• Homophone: allegator
• Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)

Noun

alligator (plural alligators)

1. Either of two species of large amphibious reptile, Alligator mississippiensis or Alligator sinensis, in the genus Alligator within order Crocodilia, which have sharp teeth and very strong jaws and are native to the Americas and China, respectively.

   All you could see of the alligator were two eyes above the water, then suddenly it snatched up and caught the poor bird with strong jaws full of sharp teeth.

   • 2002, Maurice Burton, Robert Burton, International Wildlife Encyclopedia, page 38,

     Alligators and crocodiles look extremely alike.

     The main distinguishing feature is the teeth. In a crocodile the teeth in its upper and lower jaws are in line, but in an alligator, when its mouth is shut, the upper teeth lie outside the lower ones.

   • 2007, Bernie McGovern (editor), Florida Almanac: 2007-2008, 17th Edition, page 243,

     In 1967, the federal government declared alligators to be an Endangered Species and prohibited gator hunting and the sale of hides. The alligator responded and by the mid-1970s, the reptile numbers soared to an estimated half-million.

   • 2012, Thomas N. Tozer, Pierre's Journey to Florida: Diary of a Young Huguenot in the Sixteenth Century, unnumbered page,

     They ran to the village screaming at the top of their lungs that an alligator was coming after them. Several of the men in Alimacani retrieved from a storehouse the tool they used to catch alligators.

2. (paleontology) A member of the family Alligatoridae, which includes the caimans.
3. (Nigeria) dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis)
4. (formerly) Applied to any species of crocodile.
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 88:

     Alligators were very numerous, in fact the harbour was infested by them.

5. Any of various machines with strong jaws, one of which opens like the movable jaw of an alligator.
   1. (metalworking) A form of squeezer for the puddle ball.
   2. (mining) A rock breaker.
   3. (printing) A kind of job press.
6. Any of various vehicles that have relatively long, low noses in front of a cab or other, usually windowed, structure.

Synonyms

• (reptile within Crocodilia): gator (informal)

Coordinate terms

• (reptile within Crocodilia): caiman, cayman; croc, crocodile; gavial, gharial

Derived terms

• Alligator Alley
• alligator apple (Annona glabra)
• alligator bait
• alligator clamp
• alligator clip
• alligatored
• alligator fish
• alligatorfish (Aspidophoroides monopterygius)
• alligator flag (Thalia spp.)
• alligator forceps
• alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula)
• alligator grass
• alligatoring
• alligator juniper (Juniperus deppeana)
• alligator leather
• alligator lizard (Abronia spp., Elgaria spp., and Coloptychon)
• alligator pear
• alligator pepper (Aframomum daniellii)
• Alligator Pond
• alligator press
• alligator shear
• alligator skin
• alligator snapper, alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)
• alligator spread
• alligator terrapin
• alligator tortoise
• alligator turtle, alligator-turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)
• alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides)
• alligator-wood, alligatorwood (Liquidambar styraciflua)
• alligator wrench
• American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)
• big-lipped alligator moment
• Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis)
• gator
• prairie alligator
• see you later alligator
• spectacled alligator (spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus))
• werealligator

 

Translations

large amphibious reptile of genus Alligator

Afrikaans: alligator Albanian: aligator m Apurinã: kayokuru Arabic: قَاطُور‎ (ar) m (qāṭūr), تِمْسَاح أَمْرِيكِيّ‎ m (timsāḥ ʾamrīkiyy), تِمْسَاح اِسْتِوَائِيّ‎ m (timsāḥ istiwāʾiyy), تِمْسَاح‎ (ar) m (timsāḥ) Armenian: ալիգատոր (hy) (aligator) Azerbaijani: alligator, timsah (az) Basque: aligatore Belarusian: аліга́тар m (alihátar) Bengali: নক্র (bn) (nôkrô) Bulgarian: алига́тор (bg) m (aligátor) Burmese: မိကျောင်း (my) (mi.kyaung:) Catalan: al·ligàtor (ca) m Cebuano: alligator Chamicuro: kashyuna Cherokee: ᏧᎳᏍᎩ (tsulasgi) Chinese: Mandarin: 美洲鱷／美洲鳄 (Měizhōu è), 短吻鱷／短吻鳄 (zh) (duǎnwěn'è) Min Nan: 覓仔 (ba̍h-á) Cornish: aligator m Czech: aligátor (cs) m Danish: alligator (da) c Dutch: alligator (nl) m Esperanto: aligatoro Estonian: alligaator Finnish: alligaattori (fi) French: alligator (fr) m, caïman (fr) m (Louisiana) Georgian: ალიგატორი (aligaṭori) German: Alligator (de) m Greek: αλιγάτορας (el) m (aligátoras) Hebrew: אָלִיגָטוֹר‎ (he) m (aligator) Hindi: मगरमच्छ (hi) (magarmacch), घड़ियाल (hi) (ghaṛiyāl), मगर (hi) (magar) Hungarian: aligátor (hu) Icelandic: krókódíll (is) Indonesian: alligator Irish: ailigéadar m Italian: alligatore (it) m Japanese: わに (ja) (wani), ワニ (ja) (wani), アリゲーター (ja) (arigētā) Kazakh: аллигатор (alligator) Khmer: ក្រពើ (km) (krɑpəə), ក្រពា (km) (krɑpie) Korean: 악어 (ko) (ageo), 앨리게이터 (aelligeiteo) Kyrgyz: аллигатор (ky) (alligator) Lao: ແຂ້ (lo) (khǣ) Latin: alligator m Latvian: aligators m Lithuanian: aligatorius (lt) m Macedonian: алигатор m (aligator) Malay: aligator (ms) Maori: arikeita Mongolian: матар (mn) (matar) Navajo: bitseeʼ yee adiłhałii Norwegian: Bokmål: alligator (no) m Nynorsk: alligator m Persian: تمساح‎ (fa) (temsâh) Polish: aligator (pl) m anim Portuguese: aligátor (pt) m, jacaré (pt) m Punjabi: ਮਗਰਮੱਛ m (magramaccha) Romanian: aligator (ro) m Russian: аллига́тор (ru) m (alligátor) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: алигатор m Roman: aligator (sh) m Slovak: aligátor (sk) m Slovene: aligátor (sl) m Spanish: aligátor (es) m, aligator (es) m, caimán (es) m Swahili: aligatori, aligeita Swedish: alligator (sv) c Tagalog: kayman, kaiman, aligeytor Tajik: тимсоҳ (timsoh) Thai: โขง (th) (kǒong), จระเข้ (th) (jɔɔ-rá-kêe), แอลลิเกเตอร์, จระเข้ตีนเป็ด Tok Pisin: pukpuk Tswana: kwena (tn) Turkish: timsah (tr), alligator (tr) Ukrainian: аліга́тор (uk) m (alihátor) Umbundu: ongandu Urdu: گھڑیال‎ (ghaṛiyāl), مگر‎ (magar), شیر آبی‎ (śer ābī) Uyghur: تىمساھ‎ (timsah) Uzbek: alligator (uz), timsoh (uz) Vietnamese: cá sấu (vi) Wapishana: atoru Welsh: aligator m Yiddish: אַליגאַטאָר‎ m (aligator) Zazaki: timsah c

Verb

alligator (third-person singular simple present alligators, present participle alligatoring, simple past and past participle alligatored)

1. (intransitive, of paint or other coatings) To crack in a pattern resembling an alligator's skin.
   • 2003, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Essentials of Home Inspection: Roofing, page 24,

     Alligatoring is a result of the sun making the top surface of the asphalt brittle.

   • 2004, James E. Piper, Handbook of Facility Assessment, page 39,

     Sealing an area that is alligatoring is a temporary solution that may delay having to replace the asphalt for several years. A more permanent repair would be to replace the alligatored section.

   • 2009, Kären M. Hess, Christine M. H. Orthmann, Criminal Investigation, page 483,

     Common burn indicators include alligatoring, crazing, the depth of char, lines of demarcation, sagged furniture springs and spalling.

Interjection

alligator

1. Used in a common chronometric counting scheme, in which the speaker counts out loud, saying the word "alligator" between the numbers so that each number is spoken approximately one second after the last one.
   • 2013, Chuck Palahniuk, “December 21, 9:33 A.M. CST”, in Doomed:

     The same way people will count the seconds between lightning and thunder, I counted the seconds between coughs. One-alligator, two-alligator, three-alligator.

References

• Michael Quinion (2004), “Alligator”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.
• alligator in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “alligator”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin alligātor.

Noun

alligator (plural alligators)

1. (obsolete) One who binds or ties.

See also

• ligator

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Danish

Noun

alligator c (singular definite alligatoren, plural indefinite alligatorer)

1. alligator

Declension

Declension of alligator

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	alligator	alligatoren	alligatorer	alligatorerne
genitive	alligators	alligatorens	alligatorers	alligatorernes

References

• “alligator” in Den Danske Ordbog

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Dutch

Alternative forms

• alligador (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from English alligator, from Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɑ.liˈɣaː.tɔr/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: al‧li‧ga‧tor
• Rhymes: -aːtɔr

Noun

alligator m (plural alligators, diminutive alligatortje n)

1. alligator, crocodilian of the genus Alligator [from 18th c.]

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French

Etymology

From English alligator.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.li.ɡa.tɔʁ/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

alligator m (plural alligators)

1. alligator (animal)

Further reading

• “alligator”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Latin

FWOTD – 1 November 2013

Alternative forms

• adligator

Etymology

alligo (“I bind”) +‎ -tor

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /al.liˈɡaː.tor/, [älːʲɪˈɡäːt̪ɔr]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /al.liˈɡa.tor/, [älːiˈɡäːt̪or]

Noun

alligātor m (genitive alligātōris); third declension

1. one who ties or binds
   • 4 CE – c. 70 CE, Columella, De Re Rustica 4.13:

     Impedationem deinde sequitur alligator, cuius officium est ut rectam vitem producat in iugum.

     • Translation by H. B. Ash

       Then, after the propping, comes the binder, whose task it is to train the vine upright to the frame.

2. (New Latin) alligator

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	alligātor	alligātōrēs
Genitive	alligātōris	alligātōrum
Dative	alligātōrī	alligātōribus
Accusative	alligātōrem	alligātōrēs
Ablative	alligātōre	alligātōribus
Vocative	alligātor	alligātōrēs

References

• “alligator”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), via English alligator.

Noun

alligator m (definite singular alligatoren, indefinite plural alligatorer, definite plural alligatorene)

1. alligator

References

• “alligator” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), via English alligator.

Noun

alligator m (definite singular alligatoren, indefinite plural alligatorar, definite plural alligatorane)

1. alligator

References

• “alligator” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Swedish

Noun

alligator c

1. alligator (animal)

Declension

Declension of alligator
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	alligator	alligatorn	alligatorer	alligatorerna
Genitive	alligators	alligatorns	alligatorers	alligatorernas

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West Frisian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch alligator.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aliˈɡaːtɔr/

Noun

alligator c (plural alligators, diminutive alligatorke)

1. alligator