alligatory

English

Etymology

From alligator +‎ -y.

Adjective

alligatory (comparative more alligatory, superlative most alligatory)

1. (rare) Resembling or characteristic of an alligator.

   Synonym: alligatorlike

   • 1867 April 13, “Crawley on Gregarines”, in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, volume XXIV, number 602, New York, N.Y.: Frank Leslie, page 55, column 2:

     female with alligator in her chignon. “You will perceive at once, from this sketch, that one of two things must be admitted—either that the wearer imparted the alligatory character to the parasites in the chignon, or acquired it from them.

   • 1988, Larry Woiwode, “Living”, in Born Brothers, New York, N.Y.: Michael DiCapua Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →LCCN, page 131:

     A dark square leans against one runner. I pick it up and feel the alligatory surface of Dad’s briefcase before I read through the light reflected across its cellophane: Junior Doctor’s Kit.

   • 2012, Charles Lee Jackson II, Blonde Bombshells (The Emperor’s Secret Files), Thrilling Wonder Editions, →ISBN, page 62:

     He passed over retractors and took a pair of Metzenbaum scissors, the kind with the alligatory teeth on the blades.

   • 2014, Christopher Buehlman, The Lesser Dead, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 122:

     “Li’l man, li’l man,” he chanted in a kind of singsong, motioning me to him for what purpose I did not know, flipping the smoking Frisbee in his hand, grinning a big alligatory grin.