Category:Sphinx

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.)

Defn: 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.)

Defn: 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.