Crocodile

CROCODILE, n. [Gr., saffron, and fearing. L.]
1. An amphibious animal of the genus Lacerta or lizard, of the largest kind. It has a naked body, with four feet and a tail; it has five toes on the fore feet, and four on the hind feet. It grows to the length of sixteen or eighteen feet, runs swiftly on land, but does not easily turn itself. It inhabits the large rivers in Africa and Asia, and lays its eggs, resembling those of a goose, in the sand, to be hatched by the heat of the sun. [See Alligator.]
2. In rhetoric, a captious and sophistical argument contrived to draw one into a snare.
CROCODILE, a. Pertaining to or like a crocodile; as crocodile tears, that is, false or affected tears, hypocritical sorrow.

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