Green’s Dictionary of Slang

an unemployed tramp or beggar who practises as a minor con man.

1923

M. Garahan Stiffs 109: I was unemployed, and as a natural consequence mixed with and got to know a number of the day-lizards. I learnt a good deal about their weird methods of obtaining food and shelters.

1. a film actor; one who enjoys being filmed or photographed.

1916		El Paso Herald (TX) 28 Dec. 9/1: Met Kid Broad in New York [...] after his eight hours working as a lens lizard.
1922		L.J. Vance Linda Lee, Inc. 200: If this were all there was to motion-picture acting, then Lucinda could not wonder that, as she was one day informed by a crusty veteran of the colony: ‘Bums may turn revivalists, and lawyers honest, but there ain't no known cure for a lens lizard’.
2002		‘Buzzflash Mailbag’ at www.buzzflash.com 17 Dec. 🌐 What a moment for that grandstanding lens lizard John McCain.

2. (US) a photographer, a film-maker.

1921		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. 114: Quite a flock of lens lizards are in town making films while the sun shines.
1946		Western Flying 26 80: Lens lizard, Claude Howell, Tulare photog, has purchased a Cub Coupe.
1977		Oui Apr. 128: Photographed by Oui lens lizards [HDAS].
2006		review of ‘Pregnant Fantasies #3’ at www.cduniverse.com 🌐 Lens Lizard Billy Dee does his best impression of a human tripod as he zooms right in and out of the action.

(US) a prostitute who works at truck stops.

1987		Wash. Post 22 Jan. n.p.: Sometimes, they said, they are awakened in the trucks by prostitutes seeking customers. The truckers call them ‘lot lizards’ [HDAS].
1998		T. Graves Pullers 55: More than one lot lizard, as the girls were commonly called, had been shot, although not seriously.
2004		R. Spencer Naked Twilight 47: She had told Capers that, when younger, she had been what truck drivers called a truck stop ‘lot lizard.’.
2013		B. Masterman Rage Against the Dying (2014) 40: A lot lizard, a prostitute that hangs out at truck stops.
2013		E. Kurz ‘Pegleg’ in ThugLit Aug. [ebook] The barman was rubbing his crotch up against [the bar] while he talked to some lot lizard.
2023		F. Bill Back to the Dirt 50: [He] had his way with this female, what some referred to as a local lot lizard.

(US) a plausible, but untrustworthy womanizer, frequenting dancehalls to find his female victims.

1917

N.Y. Eve. World 26 Apr. 16/3: Clarte says she believes they were tango lizards and parlor snakes [...] You know, the men who dance with women patrons in the afternoon.