Salamander

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈsæləˌmændÉ™/
• US IPA: /ˈsæləˌmændÉš/

Origin

From Old French salamandre, from Latin salamandra, from Ancient Greek σαλαμάνδρα, of uncertain origin.

Full definition of salamander

Noun

1. A long, slender, chiefly terrestrial amphibian of the order Caudata, resembling a lizard or a newt.
• 1672, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 1852, Simon Wilkin (editor), The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, Volume 1, page 292,...and most plainly Pierius, whose words in his hieroglyphicks are these: "Whereas it is commonly said that a salamander extinguisheth fire, we have found by experience that it is so far from quenching hot coals, that it dyeth immediately therein."
• 2012-01, Douglas Larson, Runaway Devils Lake, Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. … The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.
2. (mythology) A creature much like a lizard that is resistant to and lives in fire, hence the elemental being of fire.
• 1920, Peter B. Kyne, The Understanding Heart, Chapter XI“Not a chance, Ranger,” Bob Mason was speaking. “This little cuss is a salamander. He's been travelling through fire all day and there isn't a blister on him. …”
3. (cooking) A metal utensil with a flat head which is heated and put over a dish to brown the top.
• 1977, Richard Daunton-Fear, Penelope Vigar, Australian Colonial Cookery (discussing 19th century cookery), Rigby, 1977, ISBN 0-7270-0187-6, page 41,The salamander, a fairly long metal utensil with a flat rounded head, was left in the fire until red hot and then used to brown the top of a dish without further cooking.
4. (cooking) A small broiler, used in professional cookery primarily for browning.The chef first put the steak under the salamander to sear the outside.
5. The , , of the southern United States.
6. (UK, obsolete) A large poker.
7. (metallurgy) Solidified material in a furnace hearth.

Derived terms

• cave salamander

Related terms

• salamandrine

Verb

1. To use a salamander (flat iron utensil) in a cooking process.
• 19th c, A 19th century recipe quoted in 1977, Richard Daunton-Fear, Penelope Vigar, Australian Colonial Cookery, Rigby, ISBN 0-7270-0187-6, page 41,When cold, sprinkle the custard thickly with sugar and salamander it.----