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Glite Dictionary
cockatrice

cockatrice

1 9.9
A creature from old stories like a two-legged dragon that kills with a look
  • noun
  • /ˈkɒkəˌtraɪs/
  • Archaic
: cocatriz
  • The brave knight sought to slay the fearsome cockatrice that terrorized the village.
  • cockatrice fight

What's at stake is being able to destroy the cockatrice, and only one of us is going to be able to do that by making the better bust.

Examples

  • And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

    The Company of Wolves (1984)

  • My mouth and tongue turned a leaden blue from sipping vile concoctions of jirmen rind and cockatrice eggs.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • What's at stake is being able to destroy the cockatrice, and only one of us is going to be able to do that by making the better bust.

    Good Mythical Morning

  • Minotaur. Cockatrice.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • 29: Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.

    Blog text (26)

  • In the legend, a cockatrice is said to have the power to kill anyone with its deadly gaze.

  • Many stories describe the cockatrice as a creature with serpentine features and lethal abilities.

Surface Forms

cockatrice singular
cockatrices plural

Etymology

Cockatrice comes from the simple word cock ('rooster') and old stories that a strange beast was born from a rooster's egg. Imagine a deadly, rooster-like creature whose look could kill, and you see why a cockatrice today means that mythical monster.