giant salamander

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Giant cell. (Anat.) See Myeloplax.

Giant clam (Zool.), a bivalve shell of the genus Tridacna, esp. T. gigas, which sometimes weighs 500 pounds. The shells are sometimes used in churches to contain holy water.

Giant heron (Zool.), a very large African heron (Ardeomega goliath). It is the largest heron known.

Giant kettle, a pothole of very large dimensions, as found in Norway in connection with glaciers. See Pothole.

Giant powder. See Nitroglycerin.

Giant puffball (Bot.), a fungus (Lycoperdon giganteum), edible when young, and when dried used for stanching wounds.

Giant salamander (Zool.), a very large aquatic salamander (Megalobatrachus maximus), found in Japan. It is the largest of living Amphibia, becoming a yard long.

Giant squid (Zool.), one of several species of very large squids, belonging to Architeuthis and allied genera. Some are over forty feet long. [1913 Webster]

1.(Zool.) Any one of numerous species of Urodela, belonging to Salamandra, Amblystoma, Plethodon, and various allied genera, especially those that are more or less terrestrial in their habits. [1913 Webster]

Note: The salamanders have, like lizards, an elongated body, four feet, and a long tail, but are destitute of scales. They are true Amphibia, related to the frogs. Formerly, it was a superstition that the salamander could live in fire without harm, and even extinguish it by the natural coldness of its body. [1913 Webster]

I have maintained that salamander of yours with fire any time this two and thirty years.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

Whereas it is commonly said that a salamander extinguisheth fire, we have found by experience that on hot coals, it dieth immediately.— Sir T. Browne.[1913 Webster]

2.(Zool.) The pouched gopher (Geomys tuza) of the Southern United States. [1913 Webster]

3.A culinary utensil of metal with a plate or disk which is heated, and held over pastry, etc., to brown it. [1913 Webster]

4.A large poker. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell. [1913 Webster]

5.(Metal.) Solidified material in a furnace hearth. [1913 Webster]

Giant salamander. (Zool.) See under Giant.

Salamander's hair or Salamander's wool (Min.), a species of asbestos or mineral flax. [Obs.] --Bacon. [1913 Webster]