What is "salamander"

Salamander \Sal"a*man`der\, n. [F. salamandre, L. salamandra, Gr. ?; cf. Per. samander, samandel.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of Urodela, belonging to Salamandra, Amblystoma, Plethodon, and various allied genera, especially those that are more or less terrestrial in their habits.

   Note: The salamanders have, like lizards, an elongated body, four feet, and a long tail, but are destitute of scales. They are true Amphibia, related to the frogs. Formerly, it was a superstition that the salamander could live in fire without harm, and even extinguish it by the natural coldness of its body.

   I have maintained that salamander of yours with fire any time this two and thirty years.
   --Shak.

   Whereas it is commonly said that a salamander extinguisheth fire, we have found by experience that on hot coals, it dieth immediately.
   --Sir T. Browne.

2. (Zo["o]l.) The pouched gopher ( Geomys tuza) of the Southern United States.

3. A culinary utensil of metal with a plate or disk which is heated, and held over pastry, etc., to brown it.

4. A large poker. [Prov. Eng.]
   --Halliwell.

5. (Metal.) Solidified material in a furnace hearth.

   Giant salamander. (Zo["o]l.) See under Giant.

   Salamander's hair or Salamander's wool (Min.), a species of asbestos or mineral flax. [Obs.]
   --Bacon.

mid-14c., "legendary lizard-like creature that can live in fire," from Old French salamandre "legendary fiery beast," also "cricket" (12c.), from Latin salamandra, from Greek salamandra, probably of eastern origin.\n

\n The application in zoology to a tailed amphibian (known natively as an eft or newt) is first recorded 1610s. Aristotle, and especially Pliny, are responsible for the fiction of an animal that thrives in and extinguishes fires. The eft lives in damp logs and secretes a milky substance when threatened, but there is no obvious natural explanation its connection with the myth.\n

\nAlso used 18c. for "a woman who lives chastely in the midst of temptations" (after Addison), and "a soldier who exposes himself to fire in battle." To rub someone a salamander was a 19c. form of German student drinking toast (einem einen salamander reiben). Related: Salamandrine; salamandroid.

n. A long, slender, chiefly terrestrial amphibian of the order Caudata, resembling a lizard or a newt. vb. To use a #Noun (cooking utensil) in a cooking process.

1. n. any of various typically terrestrial amphibians that resemble lizards and that return to water only to breed

2. reptilian creature supposed to live in fire

3. fire iron consisting of a metal rod with a handle; used to stir a fire [syn: poker, stove poker, fire hook]

Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by a lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All present-day salamander families are grouped together under the scientific name Urodela. Salamander diversity is most abundant in the Northern Hemisphere and most species are found in the Holarctic ecozone, with some species present in the Neotropical zone.

Salamanders never have more than four toes on their front legs and five on their rear legs, but some species have fewer digits and others lack hind limbs. Their permeable skin usually makes them reliant on habitats in or near water or other cool, damp places. Some salamander species are fully aquatic throughout their lives, some take to the water intermittently, and others are entirely terrestrial as adults. Unique among vertebrates, they are capable of regenerating lost limbs, as well as other damaged parts of their bodies. Members of the family Salamandridae are mostly known as newts and lack the costal grooves along the sides of their bodies typical of other groups. The skin of some species contains the powerful poison tetrodotoxin and these salamanders tend to be slow-moving and have bright warning coloration to advertise their toxicity. Salamanders typically lay eggs in water and have aquatic larvae, but great variation occurs in their lifecycles. In some species and some harsh environments, salamanders reproduce while still in the larval state.

In literature and legend, the salamander is associated with fire, being supposedly unharmed by the flames, while clothes made from its skins or 'wool' were believed to be incombustible. More plausibly, salamanders were said to be intensely poisonous. Despite this, salamander brandy, a drink prepared by dunking live salamanders in fermenting fruit juices, is reputed to have hallucinogenic and aphrodisiac properties. The salamander's ability to regenerate lost body parts is being investigated and research is ongoing into any applications this may have for human medicine.

, retitled in North America and in the Japanese arcade re-release, is a scrolling shooter arcade game by Konami. Released in 1986 as a spin-off of Gradius, Salamander introduced a simplified power-up system, two-player cooperative gameplay and both horizontally and vertically scrolling stages. Some of these later became the norm for future Gradius games.

Salamander was followed with an official sequel in 1996 entitled Salamander 2.

A salamander is an amphibian.

Salamander may also refer to:

A salamander (or deadman's foot or furnace bear) in the metallurgy dialect means all liquid and solidified materials in the hearth of a blast furnace below the tap hole.

During blowing down of the furnace the salamander is tapped by drilling a hole in the Blast Furnace hearth.

Category:Metallurgical processes Category:Steelmaking

is a 1988 OVA mini-series based on Konami's arcade game, Salamander. There were three volumes released on VHS and Laserdisc. The series is not canon, however; as the MSX Gradius series states that the events with Gofer take place over a two-hundred year period following the crisis with Zelos and his Salamander Armada. In this mini-series, it is revealed that the Bacterians capture sentient life to create leaders for their space armada. They capture sentient life via a dark fog going through space that changes inorganic matter into organic matter (the large brain-like final bosses in the games); and that they are a crystal-like life-form in origin.

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the salamander is an outsider from the Elemental Plane of fire. It resembles a mix of a snake and a human made out of fire, magma, and smoke. From the waist up, it resembles an orange and black human, generally male (though females also exist) with fiery hair and beard. Some depictions also show it with fiery antlers. From the waist down it is snake-like, resembling a glowing, orange and black serpent of magma. All over the body are short, spine-like appendages which burn and steam.

Salamander is a Belgian drama television series that was first broadcast on Eén on December 30, 2012. The twelve-part series is produced by Skyline Entertainment and written by Ward Hulselmans.

Salamander'' (Russian:Salamandra'') is a 1928 Soviet-German silent drama film directed by Grigoriy Roshal and starring Bernhard Goetzke, Natalya Rozenel and Nikolay Khmelyov.