Noun

• A green iguana (Iguana iguana), a large tropical American lizard often kept as a pet
• In zoology, any member of the genus Iguana
• Colloquially, in America and the Pacific, any of several members of the lizard family Iguanidae.
• Colloquially, in Africa, any large member of the genus Varanus, especially the aquatic Nile monitor — see leguan
• Colloquially, in Australia, any member of the genus Varanus — see goanna

Noun

• 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.
• (Nigeria) dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis)
• Any of various machines with strong jaws, one of which opens like the movable jaw of an alligator.
• Any of various vehicles that have relatively long, low noses in front of a cab or other, usually windowed, structure.

Synonyms

• (reptile within Crocodilia): gator (informal)

Coordinate terms

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

Examples

• All you could see of the alligator were its two eyes above the water, and suddenly it snatched up and caught the poor bird with its strong jaws full of sharp teeth.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Verb

• (intransitive, of paint or other coatings) To crack in a pattern resembling an alligator’s skin.

Examples

• Alligatoring is a result of the sun making the top surface of the asphalt brittle.
• 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.
• Common burn indicators include alligatoring, crazing, the depth of char, lines of demarcation, sagged furniture springs and spalling.

Interjection

• Used in a common chronometric counting scheme, in which each iteration is sequentially numbered and supposed to be approximately one second in length.