Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various chiefly nocturnal tropical and subtropical lizards of the family Gekkonidae, characteristically having toe pads covered with numerous tiny bristles that adhere to vertical surfaces.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A lizard of the genus Gecco or family Gecconidæ; a wall-lizard. Also gecco, gekko. See Gecconidæ.
  • noun [capitalized] [NL.] Same as Gecco.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) Any lizard of the family Geckonidæ. The geckoes are small, carnivorous, mostly nocturnal animals with large eyes and vertical, elliptical pupils. Their toes are generally expanded, and furnished with adhesive disks, by which they can run over walls and ceilings. They are numerous in warm countries, and a few species are found in Europe and the United States. See wall gecko, fanfoot.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any lizard of the family Gekkonidae. They are small, carnivorous, mostly nocturnal animals with large eyes and adhesive toes enabling them to climb on vertical surfaces.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of various small chiefly tropical and usually nocturnal insectivorous terrestrial lizards typically with immovable eyelids; completely harmless

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Javanese ge'kok.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Malay gekok, for the sound they make when moving.

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Examples

  • The whole gecko is evolved to move in exactly the right way to use these forces to run up walls at high speed.

    10/30/07: Voom markens 2007

  • KANSAS: Lawrence -- experts confirmed the Mediterranean gecko is taking up residence in the state after spreading from the Southeast.

    And now the news 2006

  • In this earlier dream that he was now recalling a gecko crawled on a wooden cross that marked a mound near the trash barrel where a family cat had been buried in a shoe box coffin long ago.

    An Apostate: Nawin of Thais

  • It is thought that the gecko is the animal contemplated in this description, it being acknowledged by all naturalists to contain a mortal poison.

    Palestine or the Holy Land From the Earliest Period to the Present Time Michael Russell 1814

  • Maungatautari ecologist Chris Smuts-Kennedy told the Waikato Times newspaper the death of the gecko was a cruel irony but that this meant the reserve may be home to more members of the species.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • He said the 7cm-long gecko, which is common throughout South-East Asia, had invaded much of Australia's northern tip, driving out native gecko species.

    The Canberra Times - Front Page 2010

  • Of course, it all goes wrong at the end, and not just because the gecko is the app's spokescreature of choice.

    Megite Technology News: What's Happening Right Now 2010

  • He said the 7cm-long gecko, which is common throughout South-East Asia, had invaded much of Australia's northern tip, driving out native gecko species.

    The Canberra Times - Front Page 2010

  • Maungatautari ecologist Chris Smuts-Kennedy told the Waikato Times newspaper the death of the gecko was a cruel irony but that this meant the reserve may be home to more members of the species.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • Maungatautari ecologist Chris Smuts-Kennedy told the Waikato Times newspaper the death of the gecko was a cruel irony but that this meant the reserve may be home to more members of the species.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

Comments

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  • See also the conversation on the gingko page.

    November 24, 2007