Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LIZ'ARD, n. [Fr. lezarde; L. lacertus; Sp. lagarto; It. lucerta, lucertola; Arm. glasard. If lizard is the L. lacerta, there has been a change of c into z or s, which may be the fact. In Ethiopic, latsekal is lizard. Gebelin deduces the word from an Oriental word leza, to hide. But this is doubtful.]

The popular English name of all saurian reptiles generally, as the crocodile, the alligator, the chamelion, &c.; or of the species of the genus Lacerta only. Lizards, in the widest sense, are covered with scales, and their bodies are supported either by four or two legs. Their hearts have two auricles.