scorpion

Any of various arachnids of the order Scorpiones, chiefly of warm dry regions, having large claws and a segmented tail that curves over the back and is tipped with a venomous sting.

In zoology, an arthropod of the order Scorpionida.

Hence Some creature likened to or mistaken for a scorpion, and poisonous or supposed to be so.

In ichthyology, a scorpion-fish or sea-scorpion; one of several different members of the Scorpænidæ, some of which are also called scorpene and sculpin. See cut under Scorpæna, and etymology of Scolopendra.

[capitalized] In astronomy, the eighth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about October 23d. See Scorpio, 2.

A kind of whip said to have been armed with points like that of a scorpion’s tail; a scourge, described as having a handle of iron, or of wood braced and ferruled with iron, and two, three, or more chains attached, like the lashes of a whip, and set with balls, rings, or angled and pointed masses of iron.

An old military engine, used chiefly in the defense of the walls of a town.

An instrument for grappling a batteringram.

A gun whose dolphins represented the scorpion.