Tuesday word: Amphibian

[simplyn2deep.livejournal.com]

Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018

Amphibian (noun, adjective)
am·phib·i·an [am-fib-ee-uh?n]

noun
1. any cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Amphibia, comprising frogs and toads, newts and salamanders, and caecilians, the larvae being typically aquatic, breathing by gills, and the adults being typically semiterrestrial, breathing by lungs and through the moist, glandular skin.
2. an amphibious plant.
3. an airplane designed for taking off from and landing on both land and water.
4. Also called amtrac. a flat-bottomed, armed, military vehicle, equipped with both tracks and a rudder, that can travel either on land or in water, used chiefly for landing assault troops.

adjective
5. belonging or pertaining to the Amphibia.
6. amphibious (def 2).

See more synonyms for amphibian on Thesaurus.com

Related forms
non·am·phib·i·an, adjective

Related Words for amphibian
toad, frog, salamander, hyla, proteus, caecilian, caudate, newt

Origin:
1630–40; < Latin amphibi ( a ), neuter plural of amphibius (adj.) (see amphibious) + -an



Examples from the Web for amphibian
Historical Examples of amphibian
The locked controls held the amphibian for perhaps thirty seconds.
Under Arctic Ice
H.G. Winter

Bell had a raft of canes afloat beside the amphibian when she waked.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, June, 1930
Various

"You will not be allowed to cause any more trouble," the amphibian declared, coldly.
Triplanetary
Edward Elmer Smith

And then we have still the amphibian, the lizard, and the bird or mammal, up to man.
Socialism: Positive and Negative
Robert Rives La Monte

But I do think it wise to keep the story of the amphibian and its pilot to ourselves.
Dorothy Dixon and the Mystery Plane
Dorothy Wayne

Comments

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

I remember doing a report on amphibians and, in particular, newts in the third grade. I'm still fond of them.