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Alligator   /ˈæləgˌeɪtər/   Listen
noun
Alligator  n.  
1.
(Zool.) A large carnivorous reptile of the Crocodile family, peculiar to America. It has a shorter and broader snout than the crocodile, and the large teeth of the lower jaw shut into pits in the upper jaw, which has no marginal notches. Besides the common species of the southern United States, there are allied species in South America.
2.
(Mech.) Any machine with strong jaws, one of which opens like the movable jaw of an alligator; as,
(a)
(Metal Working) A form of squeezer for the puddle ball;
(b)
(Mining) A rock breaker;
(c)
(Printing) A kind of job press, called also alligator press.
Alligator apple (Bot.), the fruit of the Anona palustris, a West Indian tree. It is said to be narcotic in its properties.
Alligator fish (Zool.), a marine fish of northwestern America (Podothecus acipenserinus).
Alligator gar (Zool.), one of the gar pikes (Lepidosteus spatula) found in the southern rivers of the United States. The name is also applied to other species of gar pikes.
Alligator pear (Bot.), a corruption of Avocado pear. See Avocado.
Alligator snapper, Alligator tortoise, Alligator turtle (Zool.), a very large and voracious turtle (Macrochelys lacertina) inhabiting the rivers of the southern United States. It sometimes reaches the weight of two hundred pounds. Unlike the common snapping turtle, to which the name is sometimes erroneously applied, it has a scaly head and many small scales beneath the tail. This name is sometimes given to other turtles, as to species of Trionyx.
Alligator wood, the timber of a tree of the West Indies (Guarea Swartzii).



verb
alligator  v. i. & v. t.  To form shallow cracks in a reticulated pattern on the surface, or in a coating on the surface, of an object.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Alligator" Quotes from Famous Books



... Wisconsin, and frequently found in other States, were the result of intention rather than accident. These are sometimes called "Effigy Mounds." In Wisconsin, even implements, as well as animals, are symbolized. The beaver, the tortoise, the elephant, the serpent, the alligator seem to be their favorite animals, whose images they have endeavored to perpetuate in mounds, of course on a large scale. In Adams county, Ohio, on a steep bluff, 150 feet above the level of Brush Creek, may be ...
— Mound-Builders • William J. Smyth

... wade waist or knee deep in a Sunderbunds creek, and clear a boat with a yo-heave-ho, for fear of some festive mugger, which means alligator, lurking in the mud. ...
— Leonie of the Jungle • Joan Conquest

... Within ten years the alligator has become an important factor to the artistic manufacturer. The hide, by a new process, is tanned to an agreeable softness and used in innumerable ways. The most costly bags and trunks are made from it; pocket-books, ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 362, December 9, 1882 • Various

... interminable, it had an air of being invincible, and Man seemed at best an infrequent precarious intruder. One travelled for miles, amidst the still, silent struggle of giant trees, of strangulating creepers, of assertive flowers, everywhere the alligator, the turtle, and endless varieties of birds and insects seemed at home, dwelt irreplaceably—but man, man at most held a footing upon resentful clearings, fought weeds, fought beasts and insects for the barest foothold, fell a prey to snake and beast, insect and fever, and was presently ...
— The Country of the Blind, And Other Stories • H. G. Wells

... signs." This slave, a girl of the Chitimacha tribe, remained with Le Page for years, and one draws the inference that she was possessed of a vigorous personality, and was not devoid of charm or bravery. Le Page writes that when frightened by an alligator approaching his camp fire, he ran to the lodge for his gun. However, the Indian girl calmly picked up a stick and hammered the 'gator so lustily on its nose that it retreated. As Le Page arrived with his gun, ready to shoot "the monster," he tells us: ...
— History of Louisisana • Le Page Du Pratz


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