Skip to main content
cayman

cayman

1 8.5
A large reptile that lives in water and on land like an alligator with thick armor on its belly
  • noun
  • /ˈkeɪmən/
  • UK
translation icon : caimán
  • The large cayman basked in the sun along the riverbank, its armored belly glinting in the light.
  • cayman or crocodile

The whole Cayman was wasted, nothing was eaten, but the Cayman was dead.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • In Chavín art, very few representations were carved on large blocks accompanied by only subsidiary figures, and this observation led scholars to conclude that the cayman was an important deity or major mythical figure.

    Academic text (2002)
  • I got the cayman in my viewfinder and clicked off a couple of shots.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • "He says the last few days they have seen a grand cayman near here," Renato said.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • "That is the noise," Renato said, "of the baby cayman."

    Fiction book (1998)
  • There are cayman, fer-de-lance, and water moccasins.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Rojillio made the sound again, didn't even get to the third croak when the big cayman's head popped up above the surface of the water.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Then Lorenzo took his paddle and put it in the water as smoothly as a spoon in fresh whipped cream, and pushed us just slightly away from the cayman.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Later that day, I took Renato's photo with his head inside the jaws of a skeletal cayman, the camp's biggest trophy, nowhere near the size of the one that had jumped in our boat.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • We could discern the eye of the cayman, a portion of its ranged mouth, and the first of the drum-shaped vertebrae of the cayman's backbone.

    Academic text (2002)
  • It depicts typical Chavín motifs, including a cayman or crocodile with tail feathers.

    Academic text (2002)

Synonyms

caiman
vscayman
3 8.2

A reptile like a small alligator that lives in rivers and swamps in Central and South America

is the same meaning but an alternate spelling or form
yacare
vscayman
9.9

A small crocodile-like animal from South America that lives in rivers and swamps

is broader and refers to the whole group rather than one species

Compounds

A group of three Caribbean islands known for beautiful beaches and banking

Official money used in the Cayman Islands

Surface Forms

cayman singular
caymans plural

Etymology

Cayman comes from a Native American word that passed into Spanish as caimán, meaning 'big water lizard'. So cayman is the name for the water-living reptile similar to an alligator, which explains its modern meaning.