Moby-Dictionary

SALAMANDER
N.
1. a. A lizard-like animal supposed to live in, or to be able to endure, fire. Now only allusive.

b. Any tailed amphibian of the urodelous family Salamandridæ, or some closely allied family.
The land salamanders form the typical genus Salamandra; the water salamanders are the newts or tritons.

c. A figure of the mythical salamander used as an emblem.

2. transf. and fig. applied to persons, etc. with reference to sense 1a. a. gen.

b. A spirit supposed to live in fire.
See Paracelsus De Nymphis, Sylphis, Pygmæis, et Salamandris, etc., Wks. 1658 II. 388 seqq.

c. A woman who (ostensibly) lives chastely in the midst of temptations. Obs.

d. A soldier who exposes himself to fire in battle.

e. slang. A fire-eating juggler.

3. Applied to various articles used in fire or capable of withstanding great heat.

a. Asbestos. (Cf. salamander-stone; also F. salamandre pierreuse.)

b. An iron or poker used red-hot for lighting a pipe, igniting gunpowder, etc.

c. Metallurgy. ‘A mass of solidified material in a furnace hearth’ (Raymond); called also bear, horse, and sow.

d. Cookery. A circular iron plate which is heated and placed over a pudding or other dish to brown it.

e. Also (N. Amer.), a workman's brazier.

4. local U.S. A pouched rat or gopher, esp. Geomys pinetis.

5. A form of drinking a toast common among German students.
The full expression is einem einen salamander reiben

V.
a. intr. To live amidst fire, like the salamander.

b. trans. To submit to great heat.

c. Cookery. To brown by means of a salamander.


"For unless you own the whale, you are but a provincial and sentimentalist in Truth. But clear Truth is a thing for salamander giants only to encounter; how small the chances for the provincials then? What befel the weakling youth lifting the dread goddess's veil at Sais?"