From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cockatrice \Cock"a*trice\ (-tr[imac]s; 277), noun [OF. cocatrice crocodile, F. cocatrix, cocatrice. The word is a corruption from the same source as E. crocodile, but was confused with cock the bird, F. coq, whence arose the fable that the animal was produced from a cock's egg. See {Crocodile}.]
1. A fabulous serpent whose breath and look were said to be fatal. See {Basilisk}.
That bare vowel, I, shall poison more Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice. --Shak.
2. (Her.) A representation of this serpent. It has the head, wings, and legs of a bird, and tail of a serpent.
3. (Script.) A venomous serpent which which cannot now be identified.
The weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's
Note: [Rev. Ver. basilisk's] den. --Is. xi. 8.
4. Any venomous or deadly thing.
This little cockatrice of a king. --Bacon.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: monster hatched by a reptile from a cock's egg; able to kill with a glance
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
130 Moby Thesaurus words for "cockatrice": Benedict Arnold, Brutus, Judas, Judas Iscariot, Quisling, achievement, alerion, animal charge, annulet, archtraitor, argent, armorial bearings, armory, arms, azure, bandeau, bar, bar sinister, baton, bearings, bend, bend sinister, betrayer, billet, blazon, blazonry, bordure, broad arrow, cadency mark, canton, chaplet, charge, chevron, chief, coat of arms, conniver, conspirator, conspirer, coronet, crescent, crest, cross, cross moline, crown, device, difference, differencing, double agent, double-crosser, double-dealer, eagle, ermine, ermines, erminites, erminois, escutcheon, falcon, fess, fess point, field, file, flanch, fleur-de-lis, fret, fur, fusil, garland, griffin, gules, gyron, hatchment, helmet, heraldic device, honor point, impalement, impaling, inescutcheon, informer, intrigant, intriguer, label, lion, lozenge, machinator, mantling, marshaling, martlet, mascle, metal, motto, mullet, nombril point, octofoil, or, ordinary, orle, pale, paly, pean, pheon, plotter, purpure, quarter, quartering, quisling, rat, rose, sable, saltire, schemer, scutcheon, serpent, shield, snake, spread eagle, subordinary, tenne, timeserver, tincture, torse, traitor, treasonist, tressure, trimmer, turncoat, unicorn, vair, vert, wreath, yale
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Cockatrice the mediaeval name (a corruption of "crocodile") of a fabulous serpent supposed to be produced from a cock's egg. It is generally supposed to denote the cerastes, or "horned viper," a very poisonous serpent about a foot long. Others think it to be the yellow viper (Daboia xanthina), one of the most dangerous vipers, from its size and its nocturnal habits (Isa. 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; Jer. 8:17; in all which the Revised Version renders the Hebrew _tziph'oni_ by "basilisk"). In Prov. 23:32 the Hebrew _tzeph'a_ is rendered both in the Authorized Version and the Revised Version by "adder;" margin of Revised Version "basilisk," and of Authorized Version "cockatrice."
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