Word.ws English Dictionary

basilisc

basilisc is the alternative form of basilisk.

Meaning of basilisk

Noun

basilisk (plural basilisks)

  1. A mythical snake-like dragon, so venomous that even its gaze is deadly.
    • the deadly look of the basilisk
    Synonyms:
    cockatrice
  2. A type of dragon used in heraldry.
  3. Any tree-dwelling lizard of the genus Basiliscus: the basilisk lizard.
    • As a guide to start your collection we'd suggest either iguanas, tejus, swifts, basilisks, horned toads or alligator lizards.1965 March, Boys' Life, page 52
  4. A type of large brass cannon.
    • Awake ye men of Memphis, heare the clange / Of Scythian trumpets, heare the Baſiliſkes, / That roaring, ſhake Damaſcus turrets downe, […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  5. An infohazard or cognitohazard, especially a Langford's basilisk.
    • A basilisk, in this context, is information that can hurt you simply because you are aware of it.2019 June 13, Tom Chivers, The AI Does Not Hate You, Orion Publishing Group, →ISBN

See all 6 meanings of basilisk

Forms of basilisc

pluralbasiliscs

Questions about basilisc

What is basilisc the alternative form of?
Basilisc is the alternative form of basilisk.

Words near basilisc in the dictionary

  1. Basilidians
  2. Basilika
  3. basiling
  4. basilinna
  5. Basilisa
  6. basilisc
  7. basiliscs
  8. basilisk
  9. basilisk lizard
  10. basilisk lizards
  11. basiliskamide

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: basilisc (page history and authors); basilisk (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “basilisc.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/basilisc. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.