▪ I. guana
(ˈgwɑːnə)
Forms: 7 guiana, 7–9 guano, 8 gauna, gwana; also (anglicized) 7 gwane, gwayn, 8 guane.
[variant of iguana.]
1. The iguana, a large arboreal lizard of the West Indies and South America.
| 1607 G. Percy in Purchas Pilgrims (1625) iv. 1686 We also killed Guanas, in fashion of a Serpent, & speckled like a Toade vnder the belly. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. i. 42 With a lothsome beast like a Crocodil, called a Gwayn..we daily feasted. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xi. 267 The animals we met with on shore [at Chequetan] were principally guanos, with which the country abounds, and which are by some reckoned delicious food. 1763 W. Robinson in W. Roberts Nat. Hist. Florida 100 [List of animals] The guane. 1792 M. Riddell Voy. Madeira 63 The guana is of various colours; but most commonly it is either brown, green, or blue. 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge (1859) 287 Look at these two guanas chasing each other up that tree. |
2. Austral., Anglo-Indian, etc. Any large lizard, e.g. Sphenodon punctatum (Hatteria punctata) of New Zealand. Cf. goanna.
| 1802 G. Barrington Hist. N. S. Wales viii. 285 Among other reptiles were found some brown guanoes. 1864 J. Rogers New Rush i. 6 The shy Guana climbs a tree in fear. 1883 ‘Eha’ Tribes on my Frontier 36 The large Monitor which Europeans in India generally call an iguana, sometimes a guano! |
▪ II. guana
variant of guano.