alligator

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”).

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

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

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) A dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis)
4. (dated) A crocodile of any species.
   • 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.

• (reptile within Crocodilia): gator (informal)

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

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.

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.

• 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, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “alligator”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Borrowed from Latin alligātor.

alligator (plural alligators)

1. (obsolete) One who binds or ties. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

• ligator

alligator c (singular definite alligatoren, plural indefinite alligatorer)

1. alligator

• “alligator” in Den Danske Ordbog

• alligador (obsolete)

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

• IPA^(key): /ˌɑ.liˈɣaː.tɔr/

• Audio:

  (file)

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

alligator m (plural alligators, diminutive alligatortje n)

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

From English alligator.

• IPA^(key): /a.li.ɡa.tɔʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

alligator m (plural alligators)

1. alligator (animal)

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

• adligator

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

alligo (“I bind”) +‎ -tor

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.

Third-declension noun.

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

From English alligator, a fusion of Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), from Latin lacertus (“lizard”), unrelated to the sense above.

alligātor m (genitive alligātōris); third declension

1. (New Latin) alligator

Third-declension noun.

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

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

1. alligator

• “alligator” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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

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

1. alligator

• “alligator” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

alligator c

1. alligator (reptile)

• krokodil (“crocodile”)

• alligator in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• alligator in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• alligator in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Svensk MeSH

Borrowed from Dutch alligator.

• IPA^(key): /aliˈɡaːtɔr/

alligator c (plural alligators, diminutive alligatorke)

1. alligator