frilled lizard

noun

1. a medium-sized Australian lizard, Chlamydosaurus kingi, having a large, cloaklike flap of skin on the neck that stiffens during courtship or threat displays, forming a wide ruff.

Word History and Origins

Origin of frilled lizard¹

First recorded in 1860–65; frill + -ed ³

Example Sentences

But Mr. Trump exaggerates himself — he’s the frilled lizard of politics, inflating his self-presentation to appear ever larger.

From New York Times

He has made them in the shape of a giant beer bottle, a Porsche and a frilled lizard.

From BBC

Perhaps the most familiar is the Frilled lizard, Frilled dragon or Frillynecked dragon Chlamydosaurus kingii, a highly variable, mostly insectivorous agamid that reaches 85 cm in total length and is predominantly arboreal.

From Scientific American

In one poem she presents "the frilled lizard, the kind with no legs, and the three-horned chameleon . . . that take to flight if you do not."

From Time Magazine Archive

Stiffner's ragged grey head was on a cushion, and a broad maudlin smile on his red, drink-sodden face, the lower half of which was bordered by a dirty grey beard, like that of a frilled lizard.

From Project Gutenberg