salamander

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 from Persian سام (sām) and اندارـــَن (andarūn) meaning "inner fire").

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsæləˌmændə/
• (Received Pronunciation, obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈsæləˌmɑːndə/[1]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsæləˌmændɚ/
• Hyphenation: sal‧a‧man‧der

salamander (plural salamanders)

1. A long, slender, chiefly terrestrial amphibian of the order Caudata, superficially resembling a lizard.
   • 1672, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 1852, Simon Wilkin (editor), The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, Volume 1, 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 1, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in 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. …”

   • 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. (heraldry) A heraldic representation of the mythological creature, always shown in flames.
4. (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.

5. (cooking) A small broiler (North America) or grill (Britain), 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.

6. The pouched gopher, Geomys tuza, of the southern United States.
7. (Britain, obsolete) A large poker.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

8. (metallurgy) Solidified material in a furnace hearth.

• newt
• eft
• (amphibian): siredon
• ask (dialectal)

• cave salamander
• fire salamander
• giant salamander
• mole salamander
• tiger salamander

• salamandrian
• salamandrid
• salamandriform
• salamandrine
• salamandroid
• salamandrous

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.

• salamander at OneLook Dictionary Search

• salmander

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

• IPA^(key): /ˌsa.laˈman.dər/

salamander (plural salamanders)

1. salamander, amphibian of the order Caudata

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

• IPA^(key): /ˌsaː.laːˈmɑn.dər/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sa‧la‧man‧der

salamander m (plural salamanders, diminutive salamandertje n)

1. salamander, amphibian of the order Caudata

• kamsalamander
• vuursalamander
• watersalamander

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

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

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

1. salamander

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

salamander c (plural salamanders)

1. salamander, amphibian of the order Caudata