Definition of "gargoyle" []

• A roof spout in the form of a grotesque or fantastic creature projecting from a gutter to carry rainwater clear of the wall. (noun)
• A grotesque ornamental figure or projection. (noun)
• A person of bizarre or grotesque appearance. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "She had learned that the word gargoyle, from the French, was related to gargouille, which meant “gullet.”"
• "In 1920s New York City, Professor Ernest Baxter, an expert in all things arcane; Mindy Markus, a scrappy flapper; and Roscoe, a gargoyle from the Bronx, are The Night Owls."
• "I'm not entirely sure this is a gargoyle from the French: to gargle as, to be one, it has to have a water spout in its mouth."