3 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Lion \Li"on\ (l[imac]"[u^]n), noun [F. lion, L. leo, -onis, akin
to Gr. le'wn. Cf. {Chameleon}, {Dandelion}, {Leopard}.]
1. (Zo["o]l.) A large carnivorous feline mammal ({Panthera
leo}, formerly {Felis leo}), found in Southern Asia and in
most parts of Africa, distinct varieties occurring in the
different countries. The adult male, in most varieties,
has a thick mane of long shaggy hair that adds to his
apparent size, which is less than that of the largest
tigers. The length, however, is sometimes eleven feet to
the base of the tail. The color is a tawny yellow or
yellowish brown; the mane is darker, and the terminal tuft
of the tail is black. In one variety, called the {maneless
lion}, the male has only a slight mane.
2. (Astron.) A sign and a constellation; Leo.
3. An object of interest and curiosity, especially a person
who is so regarded; as, he was quite a lion in London at
that time.
Such society was far more enjoyable than that of
Edinburgh, for here he was not a lion, but a man.
--Prof.
Wilson.
{American lion} (Zo["o]l.), the puma or cougar.
{Lion ant} (Zo["o]l.), the ant-lion.
{Lion dog} (Zo["o]l.), a fancy dog with a flowing mane,
usually clipped to resemble a lion's mane.
{Lion lizard} (Zo["o]l.), the basilisk.
{Lion's share}, all, or nearly all; the best or largest part;
-- from [AE]sop's fable of the lion hunting in company
with certain smaller beasts, and appropriating to himself
all the prey.
{Lion of Lucerne}, a famous sculptured lion at Lucerne,
Switzerland, designed by Thorwaldsen and dedicated in 1821
as a memorial to the Swiss Guards who fell defending Louis
XVI. in the attack of the mob on the Tuileries, Aug. 10,
1792. The animal, which is hewn out of the face of a rock,
is represented as transfixed with a broken spear and
dying, but still trying to protect with its paw a shield
bearing the fleur-de-lis of France.
{Lion of St. Mark}, a winged lion, the emblem of the
evangelist Mark, especially that of bronze surmounting a
granite column in the Piazzetta at Venice, and holding in
its fore paws an open book representing St. Mark's Gospel.
{Lion of the North}, Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632), King of
Sweden, the hero of the Protestant faith in the Thirty
Years' War.
[1913 Webster + Webster 1913 Suppl.]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
lion
noun
1: large gregarious predatory feline of Africa and India having
a tawny coat with a shaggy mane in the male [syn: {king
of beasts}, {Panthera leo}]
2: a celebrity who is lionized (much sought after) [syn: {social
lion}]
3: (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Leo
[syn: {Leo}]
4: the fifth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from
about July 23 to August 22 [syn: {Leo}, {Leo the Lion}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
220 Moby Thesaurus words for "lion":
Achilles, David, Establishment, Gibraltar, Hector, Leo, Roland,
Samson, Siberian tiger, VIP, a man, achievement, alerion,
animal charge, annulet, argent, armorial bearings, armory, arms,
azure, bandeau, bar, bar sinister, baron, baton, bearings, bend,
bend sinister, big boy, big gun, big man, big name, big-timer,
bigwig, billet, blazon, blazonry, bobcat, bordure, brass,
brass hat, brave, broad arrow, bulldog, cadency mark, canton,
cat-a-mountain, catamount, celebrity, chaplet, charge, cheetah,
chevron, chief, chutzpanik, coat of arms, cockatrice,
constellation, coronet, cougar, crescent, crest, cross,
cross moline, crown, cynosure, decorated hero, demigod,
demigoddess, device, difference, differencing, dignitary, dignity,
eagle, elder, eminence, ermine, ermines, erminites, erminois,
escutcheon, falcon, father, fess, fess point, field, fighting cock,
figure, file, flanch, fleur-de-lis, folk hero, fret, fur, fusil,
galaxy, gallant, gamecock, garland, good soldier, great man,
griffin, gules, gyron, hatchment, heart of oak, helmet,
heraldic device, hero, heroine, high-muck-a-muck, honor point,
horse, idol, immortal, impalement, impaling, important person,
inescutcheon, interests, iron, jaguar, label, leader, leopard,
lords of creation, lozenge, luminaries, luminary, lynx, magnate,
man of courage, man of mark, mantling, marshaling, martlet, mascle,
master spirit, metal, mogul, motto, mountain lion, mullet, nabob,
nails, name, nombril point, notability, notable, oak, ocelot,
octofoil, or, ordinary, orle, ox, painter, paladin, pale, paly,
panjandrum, panther, pean, person of note, person of renown,
personage, personality, pheon, pillar of society, pleiad, pop hero,
popular hero, popular idol, power, power elite, public figure,
puma, purpure, quarter, quartering, rock, rose, ruling circle,
sable, sachem, saltire, scutcheon, shield, simba, social lion,
somebody, something, spread eagle, stalwart, star, steel,
subordinary, superstar, tenne, the brave, the great, the top,
tiger, tincture, top brass, top people, torse, tressure, tycoon,
unicorn, vair, valiant, valiant knight, vert,
very important person, wildcat, worthy, wreath, yale
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