basilisk

plural basilisks · alternative basilisc

1. artsA mythical snake-like dragon, so venomous that even its gaze is deadly.

   the deadly look of the basilisk

   3 more examples

   The queſtion is in vvhat part of this Serpent the poyſon doth lye; Some ſay in the head alone, and that therefore the Bazeliske is deafe, bycauſe the Ayre vvhich ſerueth the Organe of hearing, is reſolued by the intenſiue calidity: but this ſeemeth not to bee true, […]

   1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Cockatrice”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William Jaggard, →OCLC, page 124

   And without more ado she […] fixed her wonderful eyes upon me - more deadly than any Basilisk's - and pierced me through and through with their beauty, and sent her light laugh ringing through the air like chimes of silver bells.

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

   As a revolutionary act of prophecy in an age of political science, Wissenkunst is a unique and anarchic expression of freedom, and not a new and aspiring system of indoctrination. If Wissenkunst is itself turned into political apologetics, then the fabulous plumed serpent is turned into a monster, a basilisk.

   1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 249

   Synonyms: cockatrice

2. governmentA type of dragon used in heraldry.
3. Any tree-dwelling lizard of the genus Basiliscus: the basilisk lizard.

   As a guide to start your collection we'd suggest either iguanas, tejus, swifts, basilisks, horned toads or alligator lizards.

   1965 March, Boys' Life, page 52

4. engineeringA type of large brass cannon.

   Awake ye men of Memphis, heare the clange / Of Scythian trumpets, heare the Baſiliſkes, / That roaring, ſhake Damaſcus turrets downe, […]

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act IIII, scene i

5. human sciencesAn infohazard or cognitohazard, especially a Langford's basilisk.

   A basilisk, in this context, is information that can hurt you simply because you are aware of it.

   2019 June 13, Tom Chivers, The AI Does Not Hate You, Orion Publishing Group, →ISBN

alternative basilisc

1. not comparableSuggesting a basilisk (snake-like dragon): baleful, spellbinding.

   Well, She is so basilisk; there's no death in her eyes […]

   1870, The British drama: illustrated, volume 4, page 997

   2 more examples

   her gaze became more basilisk in its expression, and her countenance bore some similitude to that of a handsome fiend

   1884, M. L. O'Byrne, Ill-won Peerages, Or, An Unhallowed Union, page 126

   He had never seen her quite like this, so basilisk, so frightening

   2004, Witi Tame Ihimaera, Whanau II, page 167