Lexic.us

Definition of Sphinx

1. Noun. An inscrutable person who keeps his thoughts and intentions secret.

2. Noun. (Greek mythology) a riddling winged monster with a woman's head and breast on a lion's body; daughter of Typhon.

3. 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.

Definition of Sphinx

1. n. 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.

Definition of Sphinx

1. Proper noun. (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. ¹

2. Proper noun. (mythology) The demon of destruction and bad luck in Greek mythology. ¹

3. Noun. (mythology) A creature with the head of a human and the body of an animal (commonly a lion). ¹

4. Noun. A person who keeps his thoughts and intentions secret. ¹

5. Noun. (rare) A sphincter. ¹

6. Verb. To decorate with sphinxes ¹

7. Verb. To adopt the posture of the Sphinx ¹

8. Verb. To be inscrutable, often through silence ¹

9. Verb. To make one guess at the unknowable ¹

10. Verb. To befuddle ¹

11. Verb. For the feminine to co-opt, dominate, or devour the masculine, especially from a paranoid fear of this happening ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Sphinx

1. a monster in Egyptian mythology [n SPHINXES or SPHINGES]

Medical Definition of Sphinx

1. 1. 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) 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. 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 oedipus, whereupon the sphinx slew herself. "Subtle as sphinx." 2. Hence: A person of enigmatical character and purposes, especially in politics and diplomacy. 3. Any one of numerous species of large moths of the family Sphingidae; called also hawk moth. The larva is a stout naked caterpillar which, when at rest, often assumes a position suggesting the Egyptian sphinx, whence the name. 4. The Guinea, or sphinx, baboon (Cynocephalus sphinx). Sphinx baboon Same as Sphinx. Origin: L, from Gr. Sfigx, usually derived from sfiggein to bind tight or together, as if the Throttler. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Sphinx

sphingolipidoses sphingolipidosis sphingolipids sphingolipodystrophy sphingomyelin sphingomyelin deacylase sphingomyelin lipidosis sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase sphingomyelinase sphingomyelinases

sphingomyelins sphingosine sphingosine CoA-independent transacetylase sphingosine N-methyltransferase sphingosines sphinx sphinx moth sphinxes sphinxlike sphragide

sphragides sphragistics sphrigosis sphugmicks sphygm- sphygmic sphygmic interval sphygmics sphygmo- sphygmo-oscillometer

Literary usage of Sphinx

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Arena by Harry Houdini Collection (Library of Congress) (1904)
"THE Sphinx.* THIS word has three meanings. The Sphinx of mythology was fabled to sit by the roadside and put questions to travelers. ..."

2. Handbook of Nature-study for Teachers and Parents: Based on the Cornell by Anna Botsford Comstock (1911)
"The sphinx was a vaudeville person of ancient mythology who went about boring people by asking ... Although Linnaeus gave the name of sphinx to these moths, ..."

3. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Giving the Derivation, Source, Or Origin of by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1898)
"Sphinx. Lord Bacon's ingenious resolution of this fable is a fair specimen ... As Urn figure of the sphinx ia heterogeneous, so the subjects of science "are ..."

4. A Dictionary of Science, Literature, & Art: Comprising the Definitions and by George William Cox (1867)
"A term applied by anatomists to several muscles which close or" contract the. orifices which they surround. Sphinx. In Entomology, the generic name of the ..."

5. The Gentleman's Magazine (1855)
"THX Ii Ml'lr, OF I II r GREAT Sphinx. In the papers of Caviglia (preserved at Florence) it was found by Mr. Cotterell, in 1833, that the former investigator ..."

6. The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Thomas Seccombe, William Strang, J. B. Clark (1895)
"... thrown by Sphinx into the snow on the top of Teneriffe—Gog and Magog conduct Sphinx for the rest of the voyage—The Baron arrives at the Cape, ..."

7. The Arena by Harry Houdini Collection (Library of Congress) (1904)
"THE Sphinx.* THIS word has three meanings. The Sphinx of mythology was fabled to sit by the roadside and put questions to travelers. ..."

8. Handbook of Nature-study for Teachers and Parents: Based on the Cornell by Anna Botsford Comstock (1911)
"The sphinx was a vaudeville person of ancient mythology who went about boring people by asking ... Although Linnaeus gave the name of sphinx to these moths, ..."

9. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Giving the Derivation, Source, Or Origin of by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1898)
"Sphinx. Lord Bacon's ingenious resolution of this fable is a fair specimen ... As Urn figure of the sphinx ia heterogeneous, so the subjects of science "are ..."

10. A Dictionary of Science, Literature, & Art: Comprising the Definitions and by George William Cox (1867)
"A term applied by anatomists to several muscles which close or" contract the. orifices which they surround. Sphinx. In Entomology, the generic name of the ..."

11. The Gentleman's Magazine (1855)
"THX Ii Ml'lr, OF I II r GREAT Sphinx. In the papers of Caviglia (preserved at Florence) it was found by Mr. Cotterell, in 1833, that the former investigator ..."

12. The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Thomas Seccombe, William Strang, J. B. Clark (1895)
"... thrown by Sphinx into the snow on the top of Teneriffe—Gog and Magog conduct Sphinx for the rest of the voyage—The Baron arrives at the Cape, ..."

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