An animal, especially a large or dangerous one

📝 The lion was the biggest beast in the whole safari park.

📖 The Snoogle was quite unlike any beast Peter and Mollie had ever laid eyes on — long, scaly, and covered in shining green spots.

Showing many bright, changing colours like a rainbow

📝 The peacock's feathers were iridescent in the afternoon sun.

📖 The Snoogle's iridescent back caught every ray of sunlight, flashing green and violet and gold as it moved.

To wind into a series of rings or loops

📝 The garden hose lay in a neat coil beside the tap.

📖 The Snoogle began to coil its long body around the trunk of a fallen tree, watching the visitors with three bright yellow eyes.

To examine something very carefully and closely

📝 The inspector stopped to scrutinise every ticket at the gate.

📖 Chinky knelt down to scrutinise the strange creature, as though checking against every picture in the book of magic beasts.

Kind and gentle; not harmful

📝 The old dog turned out to be a wholly benign creature.

📖 "Have no fear," said Chinky, straightening up. "A Snoogle is entirely benign — as long as no one is foolish enough to tread on its tail."

Seeming likely to cause harm; threatening

📝 The dark clouds looked menacing over the distant hills.

📖 The Snoogle bared a set of tiny pointed teeth in what looked like a menacing grin, though it was truly meant as a friendly hello.

To tread heavily on something so as to crush it

📝 Please don't trample on the seedlings we planted yesterday.

📖 "Whatever you do," Chinky warned in a low voice, "you must not trample on the tail — that is the only thing a Snoogle cannot forgive."

Wrong in what you think or judge

📝 I was mistaken — the girl in the red coat was not my cousin at all.

📖 The children had been mistaken about the Snoogle from the very first glance — its fierce look was nothing more than the natural set of its face.

Friendly and pleasant in manner

📝 The new teacher was an amiable young man, quick to smile.

📖 Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, the Snoogle turned out to be a wholly amiable creature, giving Chinky a scaly nudge of welcome.

To leave a place, especially to begin a journey

📝 The last train would depart from platform three at nine o'clock.

📖 When it was time to depart, the Snoogle waved a slippery paw at the wishing-chair as it climbed slowly back into the sky.

Amusement, laughter, and good cheer

📝 Grandpa's silly jokes filled the room with mirth.

📖 Chinky was full of mirth all the way home, laughing until he had to hold onto the arm of the chair to stop himself falling off.

Quiet, easy to control, and unlikely to cause trouble

📝 The pony was so docile that even the youngest child could ride him.

📖 Beneath its fierce green spots and pointed teeth, the Snoogle was, in truth, one of the most docile creatures in the entire magic wood.