Langford's basilisk

noun

An image which causes insanity or death upon viewing.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

Langford's basilisk1

nounLangford's basilisk (plural Langford's basilisks)

plural Langford's basilisks · alternative Langford basilisk

  1. literatureAn image which causes insanity or death upon viewing.

    Dead easy: the ones who watched it all died. (Invoke Langford's Basilisk if you need a real reason.)

    2002 February 27, Charles Stross, “What to throw in?”, in rec.arts.sf.composition (Usenet), message-ID <slrna7qjct.sdj.charlie@raq981.uk2net.com.antipope.org>
    1 more example

    The technical term is "Langford basilisk". I expect the real deal would induce nothing more permanent than an inconveniently-timed reboot, if it can even exist.

    2013 December 29, RecArtsSfPolicyWonk, “What Did You Watch? 2013-12-29 (Saturday)”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet), message-ID <w3nrp8vuk7cz.m05n26piatio$.dlg@40tude.net>

Langford's Basilisk2

nounLangford's Basilisk (plural Langford's Basilisks)

plural Langford's Basilisks

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Langford's basilisk.

Origin

After an object in David Langford's short story BLIT (1988).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Langford's basilisk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Langford's%20basilisk

MLA

“Langford's basilisk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Langford's%20basilisk. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Langford's basilisk,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Langford's%20basilisk.

Source: Langford's basilisk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.