scorpion

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

• noun Any of various arachnids of the order Scorpiones, chiefly of warm dry regions, having large claws and a segmented tail that curves over the back and is tipped with a venomous sting.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In zoology, an arthropod of the order Scorpionida.
• noun Hence Some creature likened to or mistaken for a scorpion, and poisonous or supposed to be so.
• noun In ichthyology, a scorpion-fish or sea-scorpion; one of several different members of the Scorpænidæ, some of which are also called scorpene and sculpin. See cut under Scorpæna, and etymology of Scolopendra.
• noun [capitalized] In astronomy, the eighth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about October 23d. See Scorpio, 2.
• noun A kind of whip said to have been armed with points like that of a scorpion's tail; a scourge, described as having a handle of iron, or of wood braced and ferruled with iron, and two, three, or more chains attached, like the lashes of a whip, and set with balls, rings, or angled and pointed masses of iron.
• noun An old military engine, used chiefly in the defense of the walls of a town.
• noun An instrument for grappling a batteringram.
• noun A gun whose dolphins represented the scorpion.

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

• noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of pulmonate arachnids of the order Scorpiones, having a suctorial mouth, large claw-bearing palpi, and a caudal sting.
• noun (Zoöl.), Local, U. S. The pine or gray lizard (Sceloporus undulatus).
• noun (Zoöl.) The scorpene.
• noun (Script.) A painful scourge.
• noun (Astron.) A sign and constellation. See Scorpio.
• noun (Antiq.) An ancient military engine for hurling stones and other missiles.
• noun (Zoöl.) See under Book.
• noun (Zoöl.) See under False, and Book scorpion.
• noun (Zoöl.) See Nepa.
• noun (Zoöl.) a neuropterous insect of the genus Panorpa. See Panorpid.
• noun (Bot.) a plant of the genus Myosotis. M. palustris is the forget-me-not.
• noun (Bot.) a yellow-flowered leguminous shrub (Coronilla Emerus) having a slender joined pod, like a scorpion's tail. The leaves are said to yield a dye like indigo, and to be used sometimes to adulterate senna.
• noun (Zoöl.) any shell of the genus Pteroceras. See Pteroceras.
• noun (Zoöl.) any one of the Pedipalpi.
• noun (Bot.) any plant of the leguminous genus Scorpiurus, herbs with a circinately coiled pod; -- also called caterpillar.
• noun (Bot.) a thorny leguminous plant (Genista Scorpius) of Southern Europe.
• noun (Astron.) the star Antares in the constellation Scorpio.

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

• noun Any of various arachnids of the order Scorpiones, related to the spiders, characterised by two large front pincers and a curved tail with a poisonous sting in the end.
• noun An ancient military engine for hurling stones and other missiles.

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

• noun the eighth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about October 23 to November 21
• noun arachnid of warm dry regions having a long segmented tail ending in a venomous stinger
• noun (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Scorpio