salamander
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsæləˌmændə/
ipa: /ˈsæləˌmɑːndə/
ipa: /ˈsæləˌmændɚ/
rhymes: calamander
Forms: form: salamanders
Etymology: From Middle English salamandre, from Anglo-Norman salamandre, from Latin salamandra, from Ancient Greek σαλαμάνδρα (salamándra), of uncertain origin (per Beekes, likely Pre-Greek); possibly of Iranian origin, see Persian سمندر (samandar) for more information.
Senses: examples: text: […]and most plainly Pierius, whose words in his hieroglyphicks are these: "Whereas it is commonly said that a salamander extinguisheth fire, we have found by experience that it is so far from quenching hot coals, that it dyeth immediately therein."
ref: 1672, Thomas Browne, “Pseudodoxia Epidemica”, in Simon Wilkin, editor, The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, volume 1, published 1852, page 292:
text: Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies.[…]The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.
ref: 2012 January 24, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 23 May 2012, page 46:
glosses: A long, slender, chiefly terrestrial amphibian of the order Caudata, superficially resembling a lizard.
examples: text: “Not a chance, Ranger,” Bob Mason was speaking. “This little cuss is a salamander. He's been travelling through fire all day and there isn't a blister on him. …”
ref: 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter XI, in The Understanding Heart:
text: "There is a vulgar error," says the author of the Brief Natural History, p. 91, "that a salamander lives in the fire. Yet both Galen and Dioscorides refute this opinion; and Mathiolus, in his Commentaries upon Dioscorides, a very famous physician, affirms of them, that by casting of many a salamander into the fire for tryal he found it false. The same experiment is likewise avouched by Joubertus."
ref: 1849, John Brand, Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: Chiefly Illustrating the Origin of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies, and Superstitions, volume 3, page 372:
topics: human-sciences
mysticism
mythology
philosophy
sciences
glosses: A creature much like a lizard that is resistant to and lives in fire (in which it is often depicted in heraldry), hence the elemental being of fire.
examples: text: The salamander, a fairly long metal utensil with a flat rounded head, was left in the fire until red hot and then used to brown the top of a dish without further cooking.
ref: 1977, Richard Daunton-Fear, Penelope Vigar, Australian Colonial Cookery (discussing 19th century cookery), Rigby, 1977, page 41
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: A metal utensil with a flat head which is heated and put over a dish to brown the top.
examples: text: The chef first put the steak under the salamander to sear the outside.
text: Overfired grills, or salamanders, can, in addition, be used for making toast and salamandering. They have the heat source above the food[…]. This may comprise sets of burners firing below refractory or metal frets, or surface combustion plaques.
ref: 2006, Frank Saxon, editor, Tolley's Industrial and Commercial Gas Installation Practice [Gas Service Technology; 3], 4th edition, Oxford; Burlington, Mass.: Elsevier Newnes, →ISBN, page 35:
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: A small broiler (North America) or grill (Britain) that heats the food from above, used in professional cookery primarily for browning.
glosses: A pouched gopher (Geomys pinetis etc.)
examples: text: Multitudes had little Tin Kettles in their Houses, with Small-coal kindled, to light their Pipes withal; though in some places they use Candles, in others Salamanders
ref: 1698, William King, A journey to London […] , translation of original by Samuel Sorbière:
glosses: A large poker.
examples: text: Salamander tapping is done at the salamander base, which is the bottom-most level of the liquid pool in a blast furnace hearth. A high degree of precision is required to tap the salamander base effectively
ref: 2019, Ian Cameron, Mitren Sukhram, Kyle Lefebvre, Blast Furnace Ironmaking:
topics: engineering
metallurgy
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
synonyms: Shadrach
glosses: Solidified material in a furnace hearth.
examples: text: The necessary fires alone — the salamanders and tinner's pots — had caused dozens of small blazes.
ref: 2003, Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City, Vintage Books, page 192:
topics: business
construction
manufacturing
glosses: A portable stove used to heat or dry buildings under construction.
glosses: A fire-eater (performer who pretends to swallow fire).
Hypernyms: sense: amphibian
word: caudatan
sense: amphibian
word: urodelan
Hyponyms: word: ask
word: eft
word: newt
sense: larval or neotenic
word: siredon
Derived terms: Abe's salamander
alpine salamander
cave salamander
fire salamander
gerrymander
giant salamander
Japanese giant salamander
klip-salamander
Korean crevice salamander
land-salamander
Larch Mountain salamander
limestone salamander
longtail salamander
lungless salamander
marbled salamander
mole salamander
northern slimy salamander
ravine salamander
salamanderlike
seal salamander
spectacled salamander
spotted salamander
spring salamander
Strinati's cave salamander
tiger salamander
water-salamander
zigzag salamander
Related terms: salamandrian
salamandric
salamandrid
salamandriform
salamandrine
salamandroid
salamandrous