scorpion

scorpion
  (ˈskɔːpɪən)
  Also 3 scorpiun, 4–5 scorpyo(u)n, scorpien, 4–6 scorpioun, scorpione, 5 scorpyone, (scarpyn, 6 scorpiowne, 7 scorpean).
  [a. OF. scorpion, scorpiun (also escorpiun; mod.F. scorpion) = Pr., Sp. escorpion, Pg. escorpião, It. scorpione:—L. scorpiōnem (scorpio), extended form of scorpius (whence It. scorpio), a. Gr. σκορπίος.
  The word has been adopted into all the Teut. langs.: OHG. scorpjo, scorpo, MHG., MDu. schorp(e, MLG. schorpie; also, in forms showing later adoption from Fr. or Latin, mod.Ger. skorpion, MDu., mod.Du. schorpioen, MLG. schorpion, Sw., Da. skorpion.]
  1. a. An arachnid of any of the genera (Scorpio, Buthus, Androctonus, etc.) forming the group Scorpionidæ, having a pair of large nippers and a general resemblance to a miniature lobster; they inhabit tropical and warm temperate countries in both hemispheres. The intense pain caused by the sting of the scorpion (situated at the point of the tail) is proverbial.

a 1225 [see b]. a 1300 Cursor M. 693 Þe scorpion for-bare is stang Fra bestes þar he lai amang. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 153 For of alle venymes foulest is þe scorpioun. 1382 Wyclif Luke xi. 12 Ethir if he schal axe an ey, whether he schal dresse to him a scorpioun? c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 766/4 Hic scorpio, a scarpyn. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 86 But well fore-warning winde Did seeme to say, seeke not a Scorpions Nest, Nor set no footing on this vnkinde Shore. 1683 Robinson in Ray's Corr. (1848) 137–8 Since my coming to Montpellier I have seen several scorpions creeping on the walls... Animals stung by these scorpions fall generally into tremblings and convulsive motions. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 352 Those poisonous fields with rank luxuriance crowned, Where the dark scorpion gathers death around. 1806 Shaw Gen. Zool. VI. 485 The common Italian Scorpion usually measures something more than an inch in length from the head to the setting on of the tail. Ibid. 486 The Scorpio Afer of Linnæus, or great African Scorpion. 1882 E. R. Lankester in Linn. Soc. Jrnl. XVI. Zool. 455 The beautiful citron-coloured Scorpion, Androctonus funestus. Ibid. 460 A large number of Italian Scorpions belonging to the species Euscorpius italicus, E. carpathicus, and E. flavicaudus. Ibid. 462 The Androctonus occitanus or yellow Scorpion of Southern France and Spain. 1902 ― in Encycl. Brit. XXV. 538/2 The desert Scorpion, Buthus australis.

  b. in allusions to various fabled habits or properties of the animal.
  The flesh of the scorpion was supposed to be a cure for its own sting (see also 1 e). The alleged fact, related by ancient writers, that a scorpion, when surrounded by a ring of fire, will commit suicide by stinging itself, is discredited by naturalists, though many persons in modern times have claimed to have observed it.

a 1225 Ancr. R. 206 Þe scorpiun is ones cunnes wurm þet haueð neb, ase me seið, sumdel iliche ase wummon, & is neddre bihinden, makeð feir semblaunt, & fikeð mid te heaued, & stingeð mid te teile. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 814 O thou fortune Instable, Lyk to the Scorpion, so deceyuable, That flaterest with thyn heed, whan thou wolt s[t]ynge. a 1625 Fletcher & Mass. Cust. Country v. v, Women..rellish much of Scorpions, For both have stings, and both can hurt, and cure too. a 1711 Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 137 The Scorpion sucks the Poison he convey'd, An antidote to his own Poison made. 1813 Byron Giaour xvi, The Mind, that broods o'er guilty woes, Is like a Scorpion girt by fire. 1819 Shelley Cenci ii. ii. 70 And we are left, as scorpions ringed with fire. What should we do but strike ourselves to death?

  c. transf. and fig.

a 1225 Ancr. R. 206 Ich ne der nemen þeo unkundeliche kundles of þisse deouel scorpiun, attri iteiled. c 1386 Chaucer Manciple's T. 167 Traitour quod he, with tonge of Scorpion Thou hast me broght to my confusion. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems iv. 57 That scorpioun fell [i.e. Death] hes done infek Maister Johne Clerk, and James Afflek. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V 44 Some private Scorpion in your heartes..hath caused you to conspire my death and confusion. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. ii. 36 O, full of Scorpions is my Minde, deare Wife. 1719 Young Busiris ii. i, That thought has fixed a scorpion on my heart That stings to death. 1825 T. H. Lister Granby xvii. (1836) 112 ‘That detrimental class, the Scorpions.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Why, younger brothers.’ 1924 R. Campbell Flaming Terrapin iii. 42 But life, a scorpion of tenacious hold, Fastened upon their spirits.

  d. Her. A representation of a scorpion as an armorial bearing (see quot. 1780).

1780 Edmondson Her. Gloss. s.v., It is..usually borne erect, or with its head strait upwards,..in which case it is, in blazon, called a Scorpion, without any addition..; but when it is borne with the head downwards, it is to be called, in blazon, a Scorpion reversed. 1906 Vinycomb Fict. & Symb. Creatures in Art 122 The Scorpion..is generally borne erect.

  † e. oil of scorpions, scorpion's oil: an oily substance formerly prepared from scorpions, used as an antidote against the sting of a scorpion, and for other medicinal purposes. Obs.

1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. L i, Ere the officers come to extend, Ile bestow an hundred pound on a doale of bread, which Ile cause to be kneaded with scorpions oyle, that will kill more than the plague. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 185 Wherunto he layed Garlicke, Rue, and oile of Scorpions. 1663 Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. i. ii. 48 The Oyl of Scorpions is not onely Antidotal against their Stings, but is witnessed..to be very useful to bring away the descending Stone of the Kidneys. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece i. i. 57 Take Oil of Scorpions, and Oil of Bees-wax, of each a like Quantity.

  f. Applied to other animals resembling or popularly confounded with the scorpion: (a) to arachnids of the closely related groups Pseudo-scorpionidæ (tailless or false scorpions, including the chelifers or book-scorpions) and Pedipalpi (including the genus Thelyphonus, known as whip-scorpions); (b) in the U.S., to tarantulas, centipedes, various lizards, etc. (Cent. Dict. 1891); † (c) see water-scorpion.

1709 [see scorpion-lizard in 8 c]. 1863 Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 679 Book Scorpion, Chelifer Wideri.

  2. Astr. (With capital initial.) The constellation and (now somewhat rarely) the zodiacal sign Scorpio.

c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame ii. 948 Til that he sey the Scorpioun, Whiche that in heuen a sygne is yit. c 1400 Treat. Astron. 4 (MS. Bodl. Add. B. 17), The viij signe is Scorpio, he regneþ in octobre and is y cleped the signe of a Scorpion þ{supt} is an Adder. 1593 G. Harvey New Letter Wks. 1884 I. 278 Not much vnlike the progresse of the resplendent Sunne in the Scorpion. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 328 Satan in likeness of an Angel bright Betwixt the Centaure and the Scorpion stearing His Zenith. 1754 Hill Urania s.v. Scorpio, The Scorpion is not a very large constellation, but, for its extent, it contains a considerable quantity of stars, and some of them very conspicuous. Ibid., They call this..Cor Scorpionis, the Scorpion's Heart. 1785 W. Herschel in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 256 In the body of the Scorpion is an opening. 1868 Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 382 The bifurcation [of the Galaxy] continues through the Wolf, the Altar, the Scorpion, and Sagittarius. 1870 Mrs. Lockyer Flammarion's Marv. Heavens 81 The Scales and Scorpion only formed one sign with the Latins before Augustus: the Scales were then the claws of the Scorpion. 1880 Longfellow Poet's Cal., Oct., Then on the frigid Scorpion I ride.

  3. Applied to certain fishes armed with spines: a. Used to render L. scorpio, scorpius, Gr. σκορπίος, in ancient writers. b. In Australia and America, the local name for certain species of Scorpænidæ (cf. Scorpæna, scorpene, and scorpion fish).

c 1520 Andrew Noble Lyfe iii. lxxxvi. in Babees Bk., The Scorpion of the see is so named because whan he is taken in any mannys handes he pricketh him with his stinge of his tayle. 1608 Topsell Serpents 110 Catterpillers..are also a very good meate to diuers byrdes..& to a certaine Sea-fish called a Scorpion. Ibid. 223 The Scorpion of the water or of the Sea, whose discourse or history is to be found among the fishes. 1874 Hill in Tenison-Woods Fish N.S. Wales (1882) 49 The scorpion or Fortescue, as these fish are popularly termed by fishermen, have been known for a long time, and bear that name no doubt in memory of the pain they have hitherto inflicted. 1884 [see scorpene].

  4. † a. A name for Aconite. b. The scorpion plant, Genista scorpius.

1601 Holland Pliny xxvii. iii. II. 271 And for that the root [of Aconite] doth turne and crooke inward in manner of a Scorpions taile, there be that give it the name Scorpion. 1608 Topsell Serpents 231 The greene Scorpion which is bredde of Basill,..beeing beaten and pounded with the herbe Scorpion, and so made into pills, then dryed and put into a glasse, are very profitable to him that hath the Falling-sicknesse. 1840 Paxton Bot. Dict., Scorpion, see Genista scorpius.

  5. a. In the figurative passage 1 Kings xii. 11 (and 2 Chron. x. 11), where chastisement ‘with scorpions’ is referred to as a symbol for severe oppression, the word has commonly been supposed to denote a kind of whip made of knotted cords, or armed with plummets of lead or steel spikes, so as to inflict excessive pain. Allusions to the passage are common, esp. (after Milton) in the phrase a whip or lash of scorpions.

1382 Wyclif 2 Chron. x. 11 My fader beet ȝou with scourgis, I forsothe schal beten ȝou with scorpiouns [1388 Y schal bete ȝou with scorpiouns, that is, hard knottid roopis]. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 229 If he hem smot with roddis smale, With Scorpions thou schalt hem smyte. a 1632 T. Taylor God's Judgem. i. i. x. (1642) 26 They..chose rather to bee..scourged with Scorpions..than yeeld to deny their Maker. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 701 Back to thy punishment, False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings, Least with a whip of Scorpions I pursue Thy lingring. 1788 V. Knox Winter Even. (1790) I. xx. 180, I speak my thoughts freely, though I know the editors of newspapers have vengeance in their own hands, and are able to repel their assailants, with a lash of scorpions. 1816 Byron Siege Cor. xxi. 31 Scourge, with a whip of scorpions, those Whom vice and envy made my foes.

  b. Hence used quasi-Hist. as the name of a supposed ancient instrument of torture. Also Antiq. as the name of a mediæval weapon (see quot. 1870).

1541 Elyot Image Gov. xxxix. 98 His correction mought be no lasse than that he being al naked, shuld by his lybertines be fyrst of all whipped throughoute the citie of Rome with whyppes full of ruelles called Scorpions. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam x. viii, He..bade the torturing wheel Be brought, and fire, and pincers, and the hook, And scorpions. 1870 Black tr. Demmin's Weapons of War 425 Scorpion or flail, with four chains without balls,..a Hussite weapon of the fifteenth century [figured].

  6. (tr. Gr. σκορπίος, L. scorpio, scorpius.) An ancient military engine for hurling stones, darts, and other missiles, used chiefly in the defence of the walls of a town.

1382 Wyclif 1 Mac. vi. 51 He..ordeynyde..tourmentis for to cast stoons and darts, and scorpiouns for to sende arowis [1388 scorpiens, 1535 Coverdale scorpions to shute arowes; 1609 Douay]. 1584 Hudson Du Bartas' Judith iii. 112 Here croked coruies, fleeing bridges tal, Their scathfull scorpions that ruynes the wall. 1600 Holland Livy xxiv. 533 They within shot closely against the enemies, some arrowes out of bowes, some quarrels out of scorpions and brakes. a 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais iii. Prol., Balists, scorpions, and other such warlike engines. 1840 [see onager 2]. 1879 Froude Cæsar xix. 325 The slings, the crossbows, the scorpions were all at hand and in order.

  7. Mil. slang. A nickname for a civil inhabitant of Gibraltar. Also Rock-scorpion.

1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 342 The houses..are fit only for..‘scorpions’, as those born on the Rock are called. 1889 H. M. Field Gibraltar 34 A choice variety of natives of Gibraltar, called ‘Rock scorpions’.

  8. attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attrib. (often fig.), as scorpion-kiss, scorpion-nest, scorpion-sting; scorpion-like adj.

1961 R. Graves More Poems 33 Lady Morphia—Her *scorpion kiss and dark gyrating dreams.

1581 J. Bell Haddon's answ. Osorius 497 So much rayling in such *scorpionlike nipping & bitternesse. 1668 H. More Div. Dial. iv. xv. (1713) 320 Scorpion-like Locusts.

1813 Byron Corsair ii. iv, Dream they of this our preparation, doom'd To view with fire their *scorpion nest consumed?

1797 The College 2 Hardly could..Syd'nham's worth her *scorpion-sting assuage.

  b. With sense ‘stinging like a scorpion’ (cf. sense 5), as scorpion curse, scorpion lash, scorpion whip, etc.

1803 Heber Palestine 111 Israel's sons by *scorpion curses driven.

1744 Akenside Pleas. Imag. ii. 513 His hand, Armed with a *scorpion lash.

1900 Pilot 23 June 526/2 But exactitude in the hands of second-rate scholars is a *scorpion-scourge.

1824 C'tess Blessington Jrnl. May in E. Clay Lady Blessington at Naples (1979) 104 Byron..was..lashed into satire by the *scorpion whips of envy. 1865 Ruskin Sesame i. §31 It [the nation] must discipline its passions, and direct them, or they will discipline it, one day, with scorpion whips.

  c. Special combinations: † scorpion-bow, ? = sense 6; scorpion-broom = scorpion plant (b); scorpion-bug U.S., the water-scorpion (Cent. Dict. 1891); scorpion fish, any spiny fish of the genus Scorpæna or family Scorpænidæ; also, an East Indian cat-fish (Saccobranchus); scorpion-fly, an insect of the family Panorpidæ, the slender abdomen of which is armed with forceps, and curls like the tail of a scorpion; scorpion iris, Iris alata, a native of Spain and Northern Africa; scorpion-lizard, some kind of North American lizard; scorpion lobster, a long-tailed decapod crustacean of the family Thalassinidæ; scorpion oil = oil of scorpions: see sense 1 e (Cent. Dict.); scorpion orchid, an orchid belonging to the genus Arachnis, esp. A. flos-aeris, native to Malaysia; = scorpion-plant (a); scorpion plant, (a) a Javanese orchid, Arachnanthe moschifera (Renanthera arachnitis), having creamy-white or lemon-coloured flowers, somewhat resembling a spider; (b) a plant of South-western Europe, Genista scorpius, also called scorpion-broom, or -thorn; scorpion senna, the Coronilla Emerus, a common plant of Southern Europe, with bright-yellow flowers; scorpion-shell, a gastropod of the Indian seas and Pacific, of the genus Pteroceras, having a development of long tubular spines from the outer lip of the aperture; scorpion-spider, a name given to various arachnidans (see quots.), now usually any arachnidan of the order Pedipalpi, a whip-scorpion; scorpion's tail, any plant of the genus Scorpiurus; scorpion('s-thorn = scorpion plant (b); scorpion-wort, (a) = scorpion-grass; (b) Ornithopus scorpioides, native of Southern Europe.

1641 Hinde J. Bruen xxxviii. 118 Cyprian strikes them through, as with a *Scorpion bow.

1884 W. Miller Plant-n. 199 Genista scorpius, *Scorpion Broom. Scorpion-plant.

1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 221 *Scorpion-fish... They are not the worst of fishes, especially if taken in the winter, yn stony places, & the pure Sea. 1863 Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 247 Red Scorpion fish—Scorpæna scrofa. 1883 F. Day Indian Fish (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) 36 In some fresh⁓water siluroids they [the eggs] are of a light pea-green, as in the scorpion fish, Saccobranchus fossilis.

1668 Charleton Onomast. 48 Scorpio alatus, the *Scorpion-Fly. 1869 G. Guyon in Hardwicke's Sci. Gossip 1 Jan. 23 The Scorpion-fly is quite harmless.

1900 Field 15 Dec. 936/1 The *Scorpion Iris (I. alata).—Bulbs of this lovely blue iris are now flowering in pots in a cool greenhouse.

1709 Lawson Voy. Carolina 131 The *Scorpion-Lizard is no more like a Scorpion, than an Hedge-Hog; but they very commonly call him a Scorpion. He is of the Lizard Kind, but much bigger.

1858 Baird Cycl. Nat. Sci. s.v. Macroura, The *scorpion lobsters of India, Thalassina, which live a part of their lives on land.

1897 H. N. Ridley in Jrnl. Straits Branch Roy. Asiatic Soc. xxx. 68 Bunga Kasturi. Renantha moschifera Lindl. (Orchideae). ‘Musk-flower.’ The *scorpion orchid. 1937 M. Covarrubias Island of Bali x. 336 Their garden is filled with golden flowers that grow side by side with the pandanus, the scorpion orchids, the..pineapples. 1961 A. D. Hawkes Orchids 108 The multicolored flowers are generally produced in considerable numbers, and their strange form has given them the common name of ‘Scorpion Orchid’. 1971 Ceylon Observer Mag. 19 Sept. 2/6 (Advt.), Epidendrums & Scorpion Orchids, several colours.

1866 Treas. Bot., *Scorpion-plant, Renanthera arachnitis; also Genista scorpius.

1731 Miller Gard. Dict., Emerus, *Scorpion Sena. 1862 H. Marryat Year in Sweden II. 271 Among the ruins grows the scorpion senna.

1752 J. Hill Hist. Anim. 144 The *Scorpion-shell, commonly called the Spider-shell. 1859–62 Sir J. Richardson, etc. Mus. Nat. Hist. (1868) II. 341 Genus Pterocera.—The Scorpion Shells, as they are called.

1802 tr. Pallas' Trav. I. 112, I had before observed the Phalangium araneodes, or *scorpion-spider. 1880 Silver & Co. S. Africa (ed. 3) 179 The large and wonderfully swift scorpion-spiders [Galeodes] abound in the dry upland districts. 1884 Sedgwick, etc. tr. Claus' Text-bk. Zool. i. 506 Pedipalpi (Scorpion-Spiders)... The Scorpion-spiders are allied both to the Spiders and the Scorpions.

1548 Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 41 Heliotropium mai be called in englishe *Scorpiones tayle. 1835 Partington Brit. Cycl. Nat. Hist. I. 747/1 The Scorpiurus (scorpion's tail) of botanists. 1866 Treas. Bot. s.v. Scorpiurus, [The seed-pod] has a fancied resemblance to the tail of some reptile—whence its name, Scorpion's-tail.

1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 326 *Scorpion's Thorn, Ulex. 1578 *Scorpion-wort [see scorpion grass]. 1611 Cotgr., Oreille de lievre, Scorpionwort, or scorpiongrasse. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict., Scorzonera, or Scorpion-wort, a Plant that has Leaves a span long. 1852–6 Wright Dict., Scorpion-wort, the plant Ornithopus scorpioides.

Oxford English Dictionary