salamander

See also: Salamander

English
a fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra)

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.

Pronunciation

Noun

salamander (plural salamanders)

  1. A long, slender, chiefly terrestrial amphibian of the order Caudata, superficially resembling a lizard.
    • 1672, Thomas Browne, “Pseudodoxia Epidemica”, in Simon Wilkin, editor, The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, volume 1, published 1852, page 292:
      […] 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."
    • 2012 January, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 23 May 2012, 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 (in which it is often depicted in heraldry), hence the elemental being of fire.
    • 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter XI, in The Understanding Heart:
      “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. …”
    • 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:
      "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."
  3. (cooking) A metal utensil with a flat head which is heated and put over a dish to brown the top.
    • 1977, Richard Daunton-Fear, Penelope Vigar, Australian Colonial Cookery (discussing 19th century cookery), Rigby, 1977, →ISBN, page 41
      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.
  4. (cooking) A small broiler (North America) or grill (Britain) that heats the food from above, used in professional cookery primarily for browning.
    The chef first put the steak under the salamander to sear the outside.
    • 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:
      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.
  5. (archaic) A pouched gopher (Geomys pinetis etc.)[2]
  6. (UK, obsolete) A large poker.[3]
    • 1698, William King, A journey to London […] , translation of original by Samuel Sorbière:
      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
  7. (metallurgy) Solidified material in a furnace hearth.[4]
    Synonym: Shadrach
    • 2019, Ian Cameron, Mitren Sukhram, Kyle Lefebvre, Blast Furnace Ironmaking:
      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
  8. (construction) A portable stove used to heat or dry buildings under construction.
    • 2003, Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City, Vintage Books, page 192:
      The necessary fires alone -- the salamanders and tinner's pots -- had caused dozens of small blazes.
  9. (UK, slang, obsolete) A fire-eater (performer who pretends to swallow fire).[5]

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

  1. To use a salamander (cooking utensil) in a cooking process.
    • 19th century (quoted 1977), recipe in Richard Daunton-Fear, Penelope Vigar, Australian Colonial Cookery, Rigby, →ISBN, page 41:
      When cold, sprinkle the custard thickly with sugar and salamander it.
    • 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:
      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.

References
  1. Joan Beal (2002) English Pronunciation in the Eighteenth Century: Thomas Spence's Grand Repository of the English Language, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, retrieved 27 April 2018, page 110
  2. “salamander”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
  3. “salamander”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
  4. “salamander”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
  5. 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary

Further reading

Afrikaans

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Dutch salamander, from Middle Dutch salamander, from Latin salamandra, from Ancient Greek σαλαμάνδρα (salamándra).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˌsa.laˈman.dər/

Noun

salamander (plural salamanders)

  1. salamander, amphibian of the order Caudata

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch salamander, from Latin salamandra, from Ancient Greek σαλαμάνδρα (salamándra).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˌsaː.laːˈmɑn.dər/
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: sa‧la‧man‧der

Noun

salamander m (plural salamanders, diminutive salamandertje n)

  1. salamander, amphibian of the order Caudata

Derived terms

Descendants
  • Afrikaans: salamander
  • → Malay: salamander
    Indonesian: salamander
  • → West Frisian: salamander

Manx

Etymology

From English salamander, from Middle English salamandre, from Old French salamandre, from Latin salamandra, from Ancient Greek σαλαμάνδρα (salamándra), of uncertain origin.

Noun

salamander m (genitive singular [please provide], plural [please provide])

  1. salamander

Mutation
Manx mutation
RadicalLenitionEclipsis
salamanderhalamander
after "yn", talamander		unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Swedish

Noun

salamander c

  1. a salamander (amphibian of the order Caudata)
  2. (mythology) a salamander
  3. (cooking) a salamander

Declension
Declension of salamander 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative salamander salamandern salamandrar salamandrarna
Genitive salamanders salamanderns salamandrars salamandrarnas

References

West Frisian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch salamander, from Middle Dutch salamander, from Latin salamandra, from Ancient Greek σαλαμάνδρα (salamándra).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /sɔləˈmɔndər/

Noun

salamander c (plural salamanders)

  1. salamander, amphibian of the order Caudata
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.