Crōc'o-dīle1, n.
(Synop., §130), n. [Lat. crocodilus, Gr. κροκόδειλος, Fr. crocodile, It. coccodrillo, Sp. & Pg. cocodrilo.]
Sense 1. (Zoöl.) A large reptile of the genus Crocodilus. It grows to the length of sixteen or eighteen feet, runs swiftly on the land, but does not easily turn itself. It inhabits the large rivers in Africa and Asia, and lays its eggs, resembling those of a goose, in the sand, to be hatched by the heat of the sun.
☞ The American crocodile is properly an alligator. The family of the crocodiles includes three genera, the Gavialis, Crocodilus, and Alligator, the type of the first being the gavial of India, of the second the crocodile of Egypt, and of the third the alligator of America. See ALLIGATOR.
Sense 2. (Logic.) A fallacious dilemma, supposed to have been used by a crocodile.
