monitor \mon"itor\, n. l., fr. monere. see monition, and cf.
   mentor.
   1. one who admonishes; one who warns of faults, informs of
      duty, or gives advice and instruction by way of reproof or
      caution.
      1913 webster

            you need not be a monitor to the king. --bacon.
      1913 webster

   2. hence, specifically, a pupil selected to look to the
      school in the absence of the instructor, to notice the
      absence or faults of the scholars, or to instruct a
      division or class.
      1913 webster

   3. zool. any large old world lizard of the genus varanus;
      esp., the egyptian species varanus niloticus, which is
      useful because it devours the eggs and young of the
      crocodile. it is sometimes five or six feet long.
      1913 webster

   4. so called from the name given by captain ericson, its
      designer, to the first ship of the kind. an ironclad war
      vessel, very low in the water, and having one or more
      heavily-armored revolving turrets, carrying heavy guns.
      1913 webster

   5. mach. a tool holder, as for a lathe, shaped like a low
      turret, and capable of being revolved on a vertical pivot
      so as to bring successively the several tools in holds
      into proper position for cutting.
      1913 webster

   6. a monitor nozzle.
      webster 1913 suppl.

   monitor top, the raised central portion, or clearstory, of
      a car roof, having low windows along its sides.
      1913 webster
see also:
monition mentor varanus varanus niloticus monitor top 

varanus niloticus
     n : destroys crocodile eggs syn: african monitor
see also:
african monitor