cockatrice

plural cockatrices

1. obsoletehuman sciencesSynonym of basilisk, a serpentine dragon so poisonous that even its gaze is deadly.First known use 14th c.

   Vp on the eddere and the kokatrice thou shalt go

   a. 1382, Wycliffe's Bible (MS Douce 369), Psalms 90:13

   Synonyms: basilisk

2. artsA monster with a lethal gaze or breath, originally believed to originate from a cock egg brooded over by a snake or toad, later specifically combining serpentine and landfowl features and particularly (heraldry) a rooster-headed wyvern.

   “Peace reigns in happy Luxor. The lion lies down with the lamb, and the child, if it will, may harmlessly put its hand into the cockatrice’s den.”

   c. 1910, Joseph Walker McSpadden, The Spell of Egypt

   1 more example

   A forlyued cok leiþ eiren in his laste elde... and ȝif any venemous worme sittiþ on broode þerevppon in þe canyculer dayes, þerof is igendrid... a cocatrice.

   a. 1398, John Trevisa, transl. Bartholomeus Anglicus as De Proprietatibus Rerum (MS BL Add. 27944), Vol. I, p. 628

   Synonyms: basilicock

3. obsoleteSynonym of crocodile.First known use 15th c.

   Synonyms: crocodile

4. archaicderogatoryAn evil, deceitful, or destructive person.First known use 16th c.

   ... this little cockatrice of a king ...

   1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC

   1 more example

   I have intruded because this situation is intolerable. You are either a poisonous cockatrice or a witling, and you have brought Mr. Goodwin to a desperate pass.

   2002 May 5, Lee Goldberg et al., “Murder Is Corny”, in Nero Wolfe

   Synonyms: antimodel, bad guy, baddie, bastard, beggar, blackguard, bounder, cad

5. archaicderogatorySynonym of whore, a female prostitute, a sexually promiscuous woman.First known use 16th c.

   Synonyms: whore