cockatrice

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English cocatrice, from Old French cocatriz (“basilisk, cockatrice”), from Late Latin calcātrīx (“female trampler, treader”), from Latin calcāre (“to trample, to walk upon, to oppress”) + -trīx (“-ess: forming feminine agentives”), from calx (“heel”). Its eventual association with poultry influenced by cock (“rooster, male chicken”), q.v. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈkɒkətɹaɪs/, /ˈkɒkətɹɪs/ === Noun === cockatrice (plural cockatrices) (mythology, obsolete) Synonym of basilisk, a serpentine dragon so poisonous that even its gaze is deadly. [14th c.] a. 1382, Wycliffe's Bible (MS Douce 369), Psalms 90:13: Vp on the eddere and the kokatrice thou shalt go (mythology, folklore, fantasy) A monster with a lethal gaze or breath, originally believed to originate from a cock egg brooded over by a snake or toad, later specifically combining serpentine and landfowl features and particularly (heraldry) a rooster-headed wyvern. Synonym: basilicock Hypernym: chimera a. 1398, John Trevisa, transl. Bartholomeus Anglicus as De Proprietatibus Rerum (MS BL Add. 27944), Vol. I, p. 628: A forlyued cok leiþ eiren in his laste elde... and ȝif any venemous worme sittiþ on broode þerevppon in þe canyculer dayes, þerof is igendrid... a cocatrice. (obsolete) Synonym of crocodile. [15th c.] (archaic, derogatory) An evil, deceitful, or destructive person. [16th c.] Synonyms: see Thesaurus:villain, Thesaurus:betrayer, Thesaurus:jerk, Thesaurus:shrew (archaic, derogatory) Synonym of whore, a female prostitute, a sexually promiscuous woman. [16th c.] ==== Hyponyms ==== (legendary creature): henatrice, chickatrice ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === See also === cockentrice === References === “cockatrice, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.