gecko

/ˈgɛkoʊ/

/ˈgɛkəʊ/

Other forms: geckos; geckoes

A gecko is a small reptile with sticky feet that help it to climb smooth surfaces. In many warm parts of the world, geckos are commonly found on windows, doors, and ceilings.

Most geckos are green, although these little reptiles come in nearly every color you can imagine, from brown to electric blue. Their skin is hairy, unlike the thick, rough scales of many lizards. In addition to their famously sticky feet, geckos are notable for their lack of eyelids (they lick their eyeballs to keep them moist), and "scored" tails that snap off easily in the clutches of a predator and grow back rapidly.

Definitions of gecko

1. noun

   any of various small chiefly tropical and usually nocturnal insectivorous terrestrial lizards typically with immovable eyelids; completely harmless
   types:

   Ptychozoon homalocephalum, flying gecko, fringed gecko

   a gecko that has membranous expansions along the sides of its body and limbs and tail that enable it to glide short distances

   banded gecko

   any of several geckos with dark bands across the body and differing from typical geckos in having movable eyelids; of United States southwest and Florida Gulf Coast

   type of:

   lizard

   relatively long-bodied reptile with usually two pairs of legs and a tapering tail