lizardry

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

lizard +‎ -ry

Noun[edit]

lizardry (uncountable)

  1. The state or quality of being a lizard.
    • 1940, Esmé Wingfield-Stratford, Crusade for Civilization, George Routledge, page 19:
      [] just as we can imagine that when Tyrannosaurus met Brontosaurus, no consideration of common lizardry prevented them from tearing each other to pieces.
    • 1994, Greg Matthews, The Wisdom of Stones, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 112:
      From the tapering, almost dainty tip, forward along the serrated battlements of Blighty's quickly fattening tail, to the splayed rear legs and the belly so broad it lay flattened against the ground beneath it, to the awkwardly placed forelegs with their fat and pointed claws, the thing was too long for mere lizardry, too predatory in its watchfulness, its complete lack of fear before a human, to be nothing more than a reptile.
    • 2008, Diane Morgan, Snakes in Myth, Magic, and History: The Story of a Human Obsession, Praeger Frederick, →ISBN, page 11:
      And if you happen to turn one of them over, you'd discover not the single row of belly scales characteristic of snakes but several rows of small scales indicative of lizardry.