Definition of Basilisk

Barrack

BASILISK noun

	The cockatrice. A sort of serpent hatched form the egg of a cock. The basilisk had a bad eye, and its glance was fatal. Many infidels deny this creature's existence, but Semprello Aurator saw and handled one that had been blinded by lightning as a punishment for having fatally gazed on a lady of rank whom Jupiter loved. Juno afterward restored the reptile's sight and hid it in a cave. Nothing is so well attested by the ancients as the existence of the basilisk, but the cocks have stopped laying.

		definition from: *The Devil's Dictionary* by Ambrose Bierce, 1911

Bastinado

Regular definition:

BASILISK:
?bæz?l?sk n. 1 a mythical reptile with a lethal breath and look. 2 any small American lizard of the genus Basiliscus, with a crest from its back to its tail. 3 Heraldry a cockatrice. [ME f. L basiliscus f. Gk basiliskos kinglet, serpent]

Last updated: 9/3/2011 12:48:30