gharial

English

Etymology

From Hindi घड़ियाल (ghaṛiyāl). Doublet of gavial.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛə.ɹi.əl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛɹ.i.əl/

Noun

gharial (plural gharials or gharial)

1. A gavial.
   • 1992, John B. Thorbjarnarson, Harry Messel, F. Wayne King, James Perran Ross, editors, Crocodiles: An Action Plan for Their Conservation, page 112:

     Placed in a family by itself, the Gavialidae, the gharial has long been separated from the rest of the crocodilian stock, with the possible exception of Tomistoma (Densmore 1983).

   • 1993, Arjan Singh, The Legend of the Maneater‎^[1], page 8:

     We crossed the Rapti at Bijlipur, three miles from Balrampur, over a pontoon bridge, from where we would often see marsh crocodile and gharial lying on the sandbanks with their mouths open, absorbing the solar heat.

   • 1996, M. V. Subba Rao, Nesting Behaviour of the Indian Crocodiles, Gavialis gangeticus, Crocodylus plaustris and Crocodylus porosus (Reptilia: Crocodylidae), Geethabali R. Ramamurthi, Readings in Behaviour, page 213,

     Gharials, Gavialis gangeticus are the inhabitants of deep, fast flowing rivers.

   • 2010, Steve Parker, Crocodiles‎^[2], page 18:

     The gharial breathes air into its lungs, like caimans, alligators, and crocodiles. It can hold its breath and stay underwater for a long time—more than half an hour. Gharials can also hunt underwater. They even eat their food there.

   • 2013, Eric Dinerstein, Discovering Big Cat Country: On the trail of tigers and snow leopards, unnumbered page:

     One of the goals of our river expedition was to locate gharial. Gharial help crocodilians lay claim to being the ugliest reptiles, and perhaps the most ancient.

Derived terms

• false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii)
• Malayan gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii)

Translations

gavial — see gavial

Anagrams

• Aligarh