salamander

English

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Wikipedia

a salamander (amphibian)

Etymology

From Old French salamandre, from Latin salamandra, from Ancient Greek σαλαμάνδρα, of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

Noun

salamander (plural salamanders)

  1. A long slender (usually) terrestrial amphibian, resembling a lizard and newt; taxonomic order Urodela
    • Sir Thomas Browne
      Whereas it is commonly said that a salamander extinguisheth fire, we have found by experience that on hot coals, it dieth immediately.
    • 2012 January 1, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 46: 
      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.
  2. (mythology) A creature much like a lizard that is resistant to and lives in fire, hence the elemental being of fire.
    • 1920, Peter B. Kyne, The Understanding Heart, Chapter XI
      “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. …”
  3. (cooking) A metal utensil with a flat head which is heated and put over a dish to brown the top.
    1977: 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. — Richard Daunton-Fear and Penelope Vigar, Australian Colonial Cookery, Rigby, 1977, ISBN 0-7270-0187-6, page 41 (discussing 19th century cookery)
  4. (cooking) In a professional kitchen a small broiler, used primarily for browning.
    The chef first put the steak under the salamander to sear the outside.
  5. The pouched gopher (Geomys tuza) of the southern United States.
  6. (UK, obsolete) A large poker.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)
  7. (metallurgy) Solidified material in a furnace hearth.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

Translations

amphibian
mythical creature
metal utensil
small broiler

Derived terms

Verb

salamander (third-person singular simple present salamanders, present participle salamandering, simple past and past participle salamandered)

  1. To apply a salamander (flat iron utensil above) in a cooking process.
    19th C.: When cold, sprinkle the custard thickly with sugar and salamander it. — a 19th century crème brûlée recipe quoted in Richard Daunton-Fear and Penelope Vigar, Australian Colonial Cookery, Rigby, 1977, ISBN 0-7270-0187-6, page 41
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Dutch

Noun

salamander m (plural salamanders, diminutive salamandertje)

  1. salamander
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Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 19:00