sphinx

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“
I'm not sure if the sphinx is the boss, but I doubt it since the sphinx is pretty dumb, and it's probably a bad idea to let a mindless beast run a certain level of a prison.

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Definitions (35)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Mythology A figure in Egyptian myth having the body of a lion and the head of a man, ram, or hawk.
  2. noun Greek Mythology A winged creature having the head of a woman and the body of a lion, noted for killing those who could not answer its riddle.
  3. noun A puzzling or mysterious person.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (28)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • I look back up at the sphinx, wanting to talk to it, but the sphinx is gone. —  F ;SF - vol 105 issue 03 - September 2003
  • But the thought does inspire me to check my messages, to see if perhaps my sphinx is an electronic courier. —  F ;SF - vol 105 issue 03 - September 2003
  • It towered over the man, for even a small sphinx was a giant among animals. —  Golem in the Gears
  • "This sphinx is larger than the three others previously found on the site," Sourouzian said, adding that among these were two headless sphinxes of Amenhotep's wife, Queen Tiye, and one of the Pharaoh himself. —  Al-Ahram Weekly Online
  • Too often the conventional conception of "God's will" as a sphinx-like and arbitrary force bearing down upon us with implacable hostility, leads men to lose faith in a God they cannot find it possible to love .... —  Wittingshire
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English Spynx, from Latin Sphinx, from Greek.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French sphinx = Spanish esfinge = Pg, esphinge = Italian sfinge = German sphinx, from Latin sphinx, from Greek σφίγξ (σφιγγ-), Æolic φίξ, a sphinx (Theban or Egyptian: see defs. 1 and 2); supposed to mean literally ‘strangler,’ the story being that the Sphinx strangled those who could not solve her riddles; from σφίγγειν, throttle, strangle, orig. bind, compress, fix; prob. = Latin figere, fix (see fix); by some connected with L. fascis, a bundle: see fascis.
 

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/sfɪŋks/
by American Heritage

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