Dictionary

alligatory en · ADJ

Etymology

From alligator + -y.

Meanings

1. (rare) Resembling or characteristic of an alligator.
   • He passed over retractors and took a pair of Metzenbaum scissors, the kind with the alligatory teeth on the blades. 2012, Charles Lee Jackson II, Blonde Bombshells (The Emperor’s Secret Files), Thrilling Wonder Editions, →ISBN, page 62:
   • A dark square leans against one runner. I pick it up and feel the alligatory surface of Dad’s briefcase before I read through the light reflected across its cellophane: Junior Doctor’s Kit. 1988, Larry Woiwode, “Living”, in Born Brothers, New York, N.Y.: Michael DiCapua Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →LCCN, page 131:
   • “Li’l man, li’l man,” he chanted in a kind of singsong, motioning me to him for what purpose I did not know, flipping the smoking Frisbee in his hand, grinning a big alligatory grin. 2014, Christopher Buehlman, The Lesser Dead, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 122:
   • female with alligator in her chignon. “You will perceive at once, from this sketch, that one of two things must be admitted—either that the wearer imparted the alligatory character to the parasites in the chignon, or acquired it from them. 1867 April 13, “Crawley on Gregarines”, in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, volume XXIV, number 602, New York, N.Y.: Frank Leslie, page 55, column 2:

Forms

Synonyms

alligatorlike