different between lizard vs lacertid

English

Etymology

From Middle English lesarde, lisarde, from Anglo-Norman lusard, from Old French lesard (compare French lézard), from Latin lacertus. Displaced native Middle English aske (“newt, lizard”); see ask.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l?z.?d/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?l?z.?d/

Noun

lizard (plural lizards)

1. Any reptile of the order Squamata that is not a snake, usually having four legs, external ear openings, movable eyelids and a long slender body and tail.
2. (chiefly in attributive use) Lizard skin, the skin of these reptiles.
   • 1990 October 28, Paul Simon, “Proof”, The Rhythm of the Saints, Warner Bros.

     Silver bells jingling from your black lizard boots, my baby / Silver foil to trim your wedding gown

3. (colloquial) An unctuous person.
4. (colloquial) A coward.
5. (rock paper scissors) A hand forming a "D" shape with the tips of the thumb and index finger touching (a handshape resembling a lizard), that beats paper and Spock and loses to rock and scissors in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
6. (in compounds) A person who idly spends time in a specified place, especially a promiscuous female.

   lounge lizard; lot lizard; beach lizard; truck stop lizard

Derived terms

Translations

Middle English

Noun

lizard

1. Alternative form of lesarde

English

Etymology 1

From translingual Lacertidae.

Noun

lacertid (plural lacertids)

1. Any lizard of the family Lacertidae.
   • 1993, George R. Zug, Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles, page 427,

     Lacertid scalation and body forms are similar to those of the teiids, although lacertids are usually smaller.

   • 2004, Daniel A. Greenberg, Lizards, page 33,

     Lacertids are distinguished by a section of large, flat scales on the undersides of their necks. […] Teiids are the New World counterparts to lacertids.

   • 2006, Eric R. Pianka, Laurie J. Vitt, Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity, page 206,

     Lacertid teeth are hollow at the base (teiid teeth are solid). Virtually all lacertids are terrestrial or rock-dwelling lizards, although a few species, including Holaspis and Takydromus, climb in vegetation, and at least one species appears to live high in trees.

Synonyms

• (lizard of family Lacertidae): lacerta, true lizard, wall lizard

Etymology 2

From the name of the first discovered example, BL Lacertae.

Alternative forms

• BL Lacertid
• Lacertid

Noun

lacertid (plural lacertids)

1. (astronomy) A type of blazar (highly variable active galactic nucleus) that lacks spectral emission lines characteristic of quasars.
   • 1975 July 10, Quasars and Lacertids show a family likeness, New Scientist, page 61,

     In the same diagram a compact galaxy, 3C 371, and a Seyfert, 3C 120, lie very close to the Lacertids.

   • 1990, Bulletin of the Special Astrophysical Observatory-North Caucasus, Volumes 24-26, page 67,

     These reliably variable objects included three ROCOSs (OE 400, OI 090.4, and PI034-293) and two lacertids (AO 0235+164 and OJ 287).

   • 1993, Astronomy Reports, Volume 37, Pages 329-688, American Institute of Physics, page 466,

     We have identified six radio sources in the Zelenchuk (RATAN-600) catalog with two quasars, two lacertids, and two pairs of galaxies.

Synonyms

• (astronomical object): active galactic nucleus, blazar, BL Lac object, BL Lacertae object

Anagrams

• articled