SPHINX

sphinx

(noun) one of a number of large stone statues with the body of a lion and the head of a man that were built by the ancient Egyptians

Sphinx

(noun) (Greek mythology) a riddling winged monster with a woman’s head and breast on a lion’s body; daughter of Typhon

sphinx

(noun) an inscrutable person who keeps his thoughts and intentions secret

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Proper noun

Sphinx (plural Sphinges)

(usually, with "the") An ancient, large statue in Egypt, with the face of a man and the body of a lion, lying near the Great Pyramids.

(Greek mythology) One of the many offspring of Typhon and Echidna, a winged lion-like creature with a woman's face, who commited suicide out of frustration after Oedipus managed to solve her riddles.

Synonyms

• (definite: large statue in Egypt): The Great Sphinx, The Great Sphinx of Giza

Etymology

Noun

sphinx (plural sphinxes or sphinges)

(mythology) A creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal (commonly a lion).

A person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret; an enigmatic person.

(dated) A mandrill, Mandrillus sphinx, formerly classified a baboon, and called sphinx baboon.

A sphinx moth.

(rare) A sphincter.

Synonyms

• (person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret): enigma

Hyponyms

• androsphinx

• criosphinx

• gynosphinx

Verb

sphinx (third-person singular simple present sphinxes, present participle sphinxing, simple past and past participle sphinxed)

To decorate with sphinxes

To adopt the posture of the Sphinx.

To be inscrutable, often through silence

To make one guess at the unknowable

To befuddle

For the feminine to co-opt, dominate, or devour the masculine, especially from a paranoid fear of this happening

Source: Wiktionary

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Sphinx, n. Etym: [L., from Gr. sfi`gx, usually derived from sfi`ggein to bind tight or together, as if the Throttler.]

1. (a) In Egyptian art, an image of granite or porphyry, having a human head, or the head of a ram or of a hawk, upon the wingless body of a lion. The awful ruins of the days of old . . . Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphinx. Shelley.

(b) On Greek art and mythology, a she-monster, usually represented as having the winged body of a lion, and the face and breast of a young woman.

Note: The most famous Grecian sphinx, that of Thebes in Boeotia, is said to have proposed a riddle to the Thebans, and killed those who were unable to guess it. The enigma was solved by "Subtle as sphinx." Shak.

2. Hence: A person of enigmatical character and purposes, especially in politics and diplomacy.

3. (Zoöl.)

Definition: Any one of numerous species of large moths of the family Sphingidæ; -- called also hawk moth.

Note: The larva is a stout naked caterpillar which, when at rest, often assumes a position suggesting the Egyptian sphinx, whence the name.

4. (Zoöl.)

Definition: The Guinea, or sphinx, baboon (Cynocephalus sphinx). Sphinx baboon (Zoöl.), a large West African baboon (Cynocephalus sphinx), often kept in menageries.

– Sphinx moth. (Zoöl.) Same as Sphinx, 3.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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