moloch

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

n.


an Australian lizard, Molochhorridus, Gray; called also Mountain Devil (q.v.).There is no other species in the genus, and the adjective(Lat. horridus, bristling) seems to have suggested thenoun, the name probably recalling Milton's line (`ParadiseLost,' i. 392)

«First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood.»

Moloch was the national god of the Ammonites (1 Kings xi. 7),and was the personification of fire as a destructive element.

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in CentralAustralia,' Narrative, p. 41:

«Numerous lizards such as the strange Moloch horridus,the bright yellow, orange, red and black of which render it inlife very different in appearance from the bleached specimensof museum cases.»

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