Word Meanings - SPHINX - Book Publishers vocabulary database

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. (more info)

Additional info about word: SPHINX

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. (more info) 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. 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.

Related words: (words related to SPHINX)

• CALLOSUM
  The great band commissural fibers which unites the two cerebral hemispheres. See corpus callosum, under Carpus.
• CALLOW
  1. Destitute of feathers; naked; unfledged. An in the leafy summit, spied a nest, Which, o'er the callow young, a sparrow pressed. Dryden. 2. Immature; boyish; "green"; as, a callow youth. I perceive by this, thou art but a callow maid. Old Play .
• NAKER
  See NACRE
• CALLE
  A kind of head covering; a caul. Chaucer.
• SPHINX
  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. (more info)
• SUGGESTER
  One who suggests. Beau. & Fl.
• SUGGEST
  1. To introduce indirectly to the thoughts; to cause to be thought of, usually by the agency of other objects. Some ideas . . . are suggested to the mind by all the ways of sensation and reflection. Locke. 2. To propose with difference or modesty;
• WHENCEFORTH
  From, or forth from, what or which place; whence. Spenser.
• SUGGESTRESS
  A woman who suggests. "The suggestress of suicides." De Quincey.
• SUGGESTION
  Information without oath; an entry of a material fact or circumstance on the record for the information of the court, at the death or insolvency of a party. (more info) 1. The act of suggesting; presentation of an idea. 2. That which is suggested;
• FAMILY
  A groupe of organisms, either animal or vegetable, related by certain points of resemblance in structure or development, more comprehensive than a genus, because it is usually based on fewer or less pronounced points of likeness. In zoölogy
• CALL
  callen, AS. ceallin; akin to Icel & Sw. kalla, Dan. kalde, D. kallen 1. To command or request to come or be present; to summon; as, to call a servant. Call hither Clifford; bid him come amain Shak. 2. To summon to the discharge of a particular
• SPECIES
  A group of individuals agreeing in common attributes, and designated by a common name; a conception subordinated to another conception, called a genus, or generic conception, from which it differs in containing or comprehending more attributes,
• WHICHEVER; WHICHSOEVER
  Whether one or another; whether one or the other; which; that one which; as, whichever road you take, it will lead you to town.
• CALLIOPE
  The Muse that presides over eloquence and heroic poetry; mother of Orpheus, and chief of the nine Muses. (more info) beautiful) +
• CALLOT
  A plant coif or skullcap. Same as Calotte. B. Jonson.
• SPHINGID
  A sphinx.
• CALLIGRAPHIC; CALLIGRAPHICAL
  Of or pertaining to calligraphy. Excellence in the calligraphic act. T. Warton.
• CALLOSE
  Furnished with protuberant or hardened spots.
• OFTENNESS
  Frequency. Hooker.
• GYMNASTICALLY
  In a gymnastic manner.
• HYPERCRITICALLY
  In a hypercritical manner.
• SCALLION
  A kind of small onion , native of Palestine; the eschalot, or shallot. 2. Any onion which does not "bottom out," but remains with a thick stem like a leek. Amer. Cyc.
• UNEMPIRICALLY
  Not empirically; without experiment or experience.
• RATTLESNAKE
  Any one of several species of venomous American snakes belonging to the genera Crotalus and Caudisona, or Sistrurus. They have a series of horny interlocking joints at the end of the tail which make a sharp ratting sound when shaken. The common
• UNIVOCALLY
  In a univocal manner; in one term; in one sense; not equivocally. How is sin univocally distinguished into venial and mortal, if the venial be not sin Bp. Hall.
• INNUMEROUS
  Innumerable. Milton.
• PARABOLICALLY
  1. By way of parable; in a parabolic manner. 2. In the form of a parabola.
• STEREOGRAPHICALLY
  In a stereographical manner; by delineation on a plane.
• HEMEROCALLIS
  A genus of plants, some species of which are cultivated for their beautiful flowers; day lily.
• ACRONYCALLY
  In an acronycal manner as rising at the setting of the sun, and vise versâ.
• PHYSIOLOGICALLY
  In a physiological manner.
• DIAMETRICALLY
  In a diametrical manner; directly; as, diametrically opposite. Whose principles were diametrically opposed to his. Macaulay.