Lion

sb. Forms: α. 1 léa, lío, léo, 3 leo, 3 Orm. le (genitive leness, leoness, leuness). β. 3 leun(e, lyun, 3–4 leoun, liun(e, 3–5 leon, 3–8 lyon, 4 leone, lyen, 4–6 ly-, lione, lioun, 5 lyown, lywn, 5–6 lyoun(e, 6 lionne, 3– lion. [The mod. form represents an adoption (first appearing c. 1200) of AF. liun (F. lion), a Com. Rom. word = Pr. leo, Sp. leon, Pg. leão, It. leone, lione:—L. leōnem, nom. leo, a. Gr. λέων (stem λεοντ-, perh. altered from an earlier *λεϝον-). The Gr. word was perh. adopted from some foreign lang.; a noteworthy similarity of sound is presented by Heb. lābī lion (pl. l^ebā’īm), also occurring in the sense ‘lioness’ with the vocalization l^ebiyyā; cf. also Egyptian labai, lawai lioness. The synonymous Gr. λίς (cf. Heb. layish) is not etymologically connected.

  Before the adoption of the Fr. word, English possessed forms directly representing the Latin leo, leōnem. The word was used, with difference of gender and inflexion, both for ‘lion’ and ‘lioness,’ the L. leæna not having been adopted. Owing to the two-fold form of the L. word in the nom. and the oblique case, the declension in OE. is irregular and variable. The recorded forms are: nom. sing. léo (Anglian léa), gen. sing. léon (Northumb. masc. léas), dat. sing. léon, léone, léonan, acc. sing. léon (fem. also léo), nom., acc. pl. léon, gen. pl. léona, dat. pl. léoum, léom, léonum.

  The L. word has been adopted into all the Teut. langs.: cf. OFris. lawa, MDu. leuwe, lēwe (Du. leeuw), OHG. lewo, lêwo, louwo, lio (MHG. lĕwe, leu, mod.G. löwe, leu), ON. león, lión (MSw. leon, Sw. lejon, Da. løve from Ger.). From Gr. or L., but in some cases through Teut. as the immediate source, are the forms in the Balto-Slavic langs.: Lith. lëvas, liutas, Lettish lauvas, OSl. lĭvŭ, Russ. левъ, Polish lew, Czech lev.]

  1.  A large carnivorous quadruped, Felis leo, now found native only in Africa and southern Asia, of a tawny or yellowish brown color, and having a tufted tail. The male is distinguished by a flowing shaggy mane. (The Maneless Lion of Gujerat is a recognized Asiatic variety with only a slight mane.) It is very powerful, and has a noble and impressive appearance; whence it is sometimes called ‘the king of beasts.’ In early use the name was applied to both sexes; from the 13th c. the derivative LIONESS has been used for the female.

  The young are now commonly called ‘lion’s cubs’; the older designation ‘lion’s whelp’ survives in rhetorical applications, owing to its use in the Bible.

  α.  c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter vii. 3. Ðyles æfre ʓeslæcce swe swe lea sawle mine.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., III. xi. § 3. Seo leo bringð his hungreʓum hwelpum hwæt to etanne.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 364. Ða þe scinlac þrowien etan leonflæsc.

c. 1050.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 438/22. Leo, lio.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 5834. And tatt wass rihht tatt le wass sett Onngæn þatt Goddspellwrihhte,… Forr leness whellp þær þær itt iss Whellpedd, tær liþ itt stille Þre daȝhess. Ibid., 6026. Þatt deor Þatt wass i leoness like.

c. 1205.  Lay., 28064. Þa com an guldene leo liðen ouer dune.

c. 1325.  in Rel. Ant., I. 125. Gentil ich wes ant freo Wildore then the leo.

  β.  c. 1200.  Vices & Virtues (1888), 139. Ðe lyon ðe gað abuten þe dier hem to forswoleȝen.

c. 1205.  Lay., 4085. He liððe ȝeon þeos leoden sulch hit an liun were [c. 1275 a lion].

a. 1225.  Juliana, 33. Daniel bimong þe wode liuns.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 690. Als lambe him lai þe leon mild.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 11255 (Petyt MS.). Ilkon proudere þan þe lion.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 798. Tho myghtest wene that this Palamon In his fightyng were a wood leon.

1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 74. As leon is the king of bestes.

1413.  Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), II. xlv. 51. Somme hadden longe hoked clawes, lyke as they had ben lyons.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, II. 113. Thus Wallace ferd als fers as a lyoun.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 129. Rauenynge wolues or rampynge lyons.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Rich. III., 54 b. We must … fight together like lions, and feare not to dye together lyke men.

1671.  Milton, P. R., I. 313. The Lion and fierce Tiger glar’d aloof.

a. 1687.  Waller, Summer Isl., II. 16. They roar’d like Lions caught in toyles, and rag’d.

1727–38.  Gay, Fables, II. ix. 73. The Lion is (beyond dispute) Allow’d the most majestic brute.

1839.  Penny Cycl., XIV. 32/2. The Maneless Lion of Guzerat.

1859.  FitzGerald, trans. Omar, xvii. (1899), 74. They say the Lion and the Lizard keep The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep.

  b.  Extended to other animals of the genus Felis. American mountain lion, the puma or cougar.

1630.  New-England’s Plantation (1835), 8. For Beasts there are some Bears, and they say some Lyons also; for they haue been seen at Cape Anne.

1649.  Perf. Descr. Virginia, 17. [List of native beasts] Lyons, Beares, Leopards, Elkes.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1824), I. 431. The Puma, which received the name of the American Lion.

  c.  Applied ironically (usually with qualification) to certain weak or timid animals: † Lion of Cotswold, † Cotswold lion (also Sc. Lammermoor lion), a sheep; Essex or Rumford lion, a calf. See also quots. 1825, 1827.

1537, a. 1553, a. 1612.  [see COTSWOLD].

1546.  J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 36. She is as fierce, as a Lyon of Cotsolde.

1678.  Ray, Proverbs, 307. As valiant as an Essex lion, i. e. a calf.

1699.  T. Brown, Wks. (1720), I. 216. That Prodigy of a Man that … so dexterously mimick’d the Harmony of the Essex Lions.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Rumford-Lyon, a Calf.

1721.  Kelly, Sc. Prov., 380. You look like a Lamermoor Lyon.

1825.  C. M. Westmacott, Engl. Spy, I. 156. I’ll thank you for a cut out of the back of that lion, tittered a man opposite. With all the natural timidity of the hare whom he thus particularised, I was proceeding to help him [etc.].

1827.  Lytton, Pelham, xxxix. (1849), 101. ‘A lion is a hare, sir.’ ‘What!’ ‘Yes, sir, it is a hare!—but we call it a lion, because of the Game Laws.’

  2.  Proverbial and allusive phrases. a. Proverbs (chiefly referring to the strength or ferocity of the lion). b. A lion in the way (or path): after Prov. xxvi. 13, applied to a danger or obstacle, esp. an imaginary one. c. The lion’s mouth: taken as a type of a place of great peril. (Cf. Ps. xxii. 21, 2 Tim. iv. 17.) Similarly, In the lion’s paws. d. The lion’s share: the largest or principal portion. e. The lion’s skin occurs chiefly with reference to the fable of the ass that clothed himself in the skin of a lion. (See also quots.) f. The lion’s provider: = JACKAL, lit. and fig. g. To twist the lion’s tail: freq. in journalistic use with reference to foreign insults to, or encroachments on the rights of, Great Britain (cf. 5 c).

  a.  1382.  Wyclif, Eccl. ix. 4. Betere is a quyc dogge thanne a leoun dead.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Sqr.’s T., 483. As by the whelp chasted is the leon [cf. F. battre le chien devant le lion]. Ibid., Wife’s Prol., 692. Who peynted the leon, tel me who? [See note, ed. Skeat.]

1595.  Shaks., John, II. i. 138. You are the Hare of whom the Prouerb goes Whose valour plucks dead Lyons by the beard.

1640.  Howell, Dodona’s Gr., 10. Like the moneth of March, which entreth like a Lion, but goeth out like a Lamb.

1655.  Fuller, Ch. Hist., VI. ii. 291. As the Proverb saith, The Lion is not so fierce as he is painted.

1749.  [see BEARD v. 3].

1808.  Scott, Marm., VI. xiv. And dar’st thou then To beard the lion in his den, The Douglas in his hall?

  b.  1641.  Milton, Reform., II. Wks. (1847), 18/1. They fear’d not the bug-bear danger nor the Lyon in the way that the sluggish and timorous Politician thinks he sees.

1647.  Clarendon, Hist. Reb., VI. § 342. There be both Mountains, and Lyons in the way.

1868.  Bright, Sp. Ireland, 1 April. You have always … lions in the path.

1869.  Tennyson, Holy Grail, 643. I have been the sluggard, and I ride apace, For now there is a lion in the way.

  c.  a. 1225.  St. Marher., 7. Leose me lauerd ut of þe liunes muð.

1601.  Dent, Pathw. Heaven, 62. What doth hee else, but (as it were) put his finger into the Lions mouth.

1629.  Capt. Smith, True Trav., xx. (Arb.), 878. But Merham, the old fox, seeing himselfe in the lions pawes, sprung his loufe.

1726.  Cavallier, Mem., IV. 289. He wou’d not lay down his Arms, saying it was better to die, than to run into the Lion’s Mouth.

1856.  Emerson, Eng. Traits, Truth, Wks. (Bohn), II. 54. In the power of saying rude truth, sometimes in the lion’s mouth, no men surpass them.

  d.  1790.  Burke, Fr. Rev., Wks. V. 252. Nor when they were in partnership with the farmer … have I heard that they had taken the lion’s share.

1836.  Sir H. Taylor, Statesman, xxii. 155. Always … ready to take the lion’s share of responsibility and labour.

1865.  Lowell, Wks. (1890), V. 251. Attacking a government which they knew only by their lion’s share in its offices.

1872.  Punch, 22 June, 253/1. The art of finding a rich friend to make a tour with you in autumn, and of leaving him to bear the lion’s share of the expenses.

  e.  [1484.  Caxton, Fables of Auian (1889), 219. The fourthe fable is of the asse, and of the skynne of the Lyon.]

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., IV. iii. 93. The man that once did sell the Lyons skin While the beast liu’d, was kill’d with hunting him.

1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Lion, Il n’y eut iamais bon marché de peaux de lions,… a Lyons skinne was neuer bought good cheape.

1636.  Massinger, Gt. Dk. Florence, V. i. Reason assured me It was not safe to shave a lion’s skin.

1700.  Tyrrell, Hist. Eng., II. 847. When the Lyon’s Skin alone would not serve turn, he knew how to make it out with that of the Fox.

1711.  [see ASS sb. 1 c].

  f.  1774.  Goldsm., Hist. Earth, II. 322. This has given rise to the report of the jackall’s being the lion’s provider.

1808.  Scott, Lett. to W. Gifford, 25 Oct., in Lockhart. If you will accept of my services as a sort of jackal or lion’s provider.

1823.  Byron, Juan, IX. xxvii. The poor jackals … (As being the brave lion’s keen providers).

1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res. (1858), 14. Old Lieschen … was his … cook, errand-maid, and general lion’s-provider.

  3.  fig. (chiefly after biblical usage: cf. Rev. v. 5). a. Taken (in a good sense) as the type of one who is strong, courageous, or fiercely brave.

  The Lion of the North, Gustavus Adolphus.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 131. Þa streonge leo þet wes þes liuiȝendes godes sune.

[1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 9384. Is mouþ is as a leon, is herte arn as an hare.]

c. 1325.  Poem Times Edw. II., 252, in Pol. Songs (Camden), 334. Nu þen theih liouns in halle, and hares in the feld.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, VIII. 1225. At the palȝoun, quhar thai the lyoun [sc. Wallace] saw.

1579–80.  North, Plutarch, Comp. Lys. & Sylla (1595), 522. Lyons at home, and Foxes abroade.

1589.  [see LAMB sb. 2 b].

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 7. He, my Lyon, and my noble Lord.

1599.  Kyd, Sol. & Pers., II. 61. Wks. (1901), 167. English Archers … Eclipped Lyons of the Westerne worlde.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., I. i. 239. He is a Lion That I am proud to hunt.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., 504. The Lyon … whose Sire, was surnam’d Dowglas.

1842.  Penny Cycl., XXIII. 396/1. The campaigns … of the Lion of the North, till his fall in the moment of triumph at Lützen.

1863.  Woolner, My Beautiful Lady, 132. The manliest, and king of English kings, The lion Cromwell, in his dress of war.

  b.  In a bad sense: A fiercely cruel, tyrannical or ‘devouring’ creature or person.

  Partly after biblical uses: cf. Ps. xxxiv. 17, lvi. 4, 1 Pet. v. 8, etc.

a. 1225.  St. Marher., 6. Ant tu grisliche gra þu luðere liun lað godd.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 120. Wummone wroð is wuluene, & mon wroð is wulf, oðer leun.

1340.  Ayenb., 17. Prede is king of wyckede þeawes. Hy is þe lioun þet al uorzuelþ.

1589.  Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxiv. (Arb.), 299. A Lyon among sheepe and a sheepe among Lyons.

1683.  Tryon, Way to Health, xiv. (1697), 273. All such as would have the bestial, savage Nature strengthen’d…, and have a mind to be Lions and Devils … to their own kind.

1832.  H. Blunt, Hist. Paul (ed. 2), I. 40. That the lion had become a lamb, that the persecutor was now a humble and inquiring believer.

  † c.  (See quot.) Obs.

1713.  Addison, Guardian, No. 71, ¶ 2. We polite men of the town give the name of a lion to any one that is a great man’s spy. Ibid., ¶ 7. A lion, or a master-spy, hath several jack-calls under him.

  4.  pl. Things of note, celebrity or curiosity (in a town, etc.); sights worth seeing: esp. in phr. to see, or show, the lions. † In early use, to have seen the lions often meant to have had experience of life.

  This use of the word is derived from the practice of taking visitors to see the lions which used to be kept in the Tower of London. See the introductory quots.

  [1629.  Capt. Smith, True Trav., xviii. (Arb.), 872. After, one Master John Bull…, with divers of his friends, went to see the Lyons [in the Tower].

1731.  Fielding, Lottery, iii. Wks. 1882, VIII. 480. I must see all the curiosities; the Tower, the lions, and Bedlam, and the court, and the opera.

1806–7.  J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life (1826), VII. lxviii. Escorting two or three coaches full of country-cousins … to the Lions, the Wax-work, the Monument, &c.]

  1590.  Greene, Neuer too late (1600), 34. Francesco was no other but a meere nouice, and that so newly, that to vse the olde prouerbe, he had scarce seene the Lions.

1600.  B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., V. ii. Wks. 1616, I. 242. Amo. You come not to giue vs the scorne, Monsieur? Mer. Nor to be frighted with a face, Signior! I haue seene the lyons.

1622.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Water-Cormorant, Wks. 1630, III. 5. Some say [of a Drunkard] hee’s bewitcht, or scratcht, or blinde,… Or seene the Lyons, or his nose is dirty.

1770.  C. Jenner, Placid Man (1773), I. 119. It made no inconsiderable figure amongst the Lions of Bath.

1782.  Mad. D’Arblay, Cecilia, I. viii. Mr. Monckton … asked Morrice why he did not shew the lyons.

1792.  T. Twining, Recr. & Stud. (1882), 157. I suppose the lions of Nottingham are public, accessible lions, and require no interest to get sight of.

1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, V. i. ¶ 6. The churches were the best lions we met with in our way.

1810.  Scott, Lett. to J. B. S. Morritt, 9 Aug., in Lockhart. The cavern at Staffa … is one of the few lions which completely maintain an extended reputation.

1840.  Hood, Up the Rhine, 96. The rest of the day was spent in seeing the Lions—and first the Cathedral.

1859.  Jephson, Brittany, viii. 123. He was polite … and showed the lions very good-naturedly.

1864.  ‘C. Bede,’ in Lond. Soc., VI. 27/1. That celebrated collection of lions of which his University can show so complete a menagerie in her College Halls, Bodleian [etc.].

  b.  Hence: A person of note or celebrity who is much sought after.

1715.  Lady M. W. Montagu, Town Eclogues, Tuesday. Fops of all kinds, to see the Lion, run; The beauties stay till the first act’s begun.

1774.  Mad. D’Arblay, Early Diary (1889), I. 311. The present Lyon of the times, according to the author of ‘the Placid Man’s’ term, is Omy, the native of Otaheite.

1815.  Lady Granville, Lett. (1894), I. 67. [At a ball.] The King of Prussia is the only Royal lion.

1838.  Lytton, Alice, VI. i. The literary lion who likes to be petted.

1850.  Thackeray, Contrib. to Punch, Wks. 1886, XXIV. 251. What is a lion? A lion is a man or woman one must have at one’s parties.

1889.  T. A. Trollope, What I remember, III. 131. Longfellow … largely paid the poet’s penalty of being made the lion of all the drawing rooms.

  † c.  Oxford slang. A visitor to Oxford. ? Obs.

1785.  Grose, Dict. Vulgar Tongue, Lion … a name given by the gownsmen of Oxford, to inhabitants or visitors.

1785.  R. Cumberland, Observer, No. 95, ¶ 4. I did not excel in any of my academical exercises, save that of circumambulating the colleges and public buildings with strangers…; in this branch of learning I gained such general reputation as to be honoured with the title of Keeper of the Lions.

1807.  Southey, Espriella’s Lett., II. xxxii. 60. [The young student] had abstained from visiting many things himself, till he should have a lion to take with him.

1818.  T. Ward, Strictures Charac. Barristers (ed. 2), 45. To the amusement of the Nobility and Gentry visiting Oxford, the latter of whom are known by the University men by the appellation of Lions and Lioness’s, when observed in the streets with an Oxford Guide in their hand, or gaping about.

  † d.  (See quot.) Obs.

1785.  G. A. Bellamy, Apol., II. 68. Just under him, in the pit, sat a lion [Footnote, A term at that time in vogue for a cit].

  5.  An image or picture of a lion. (A favorite sign for inns and taverns: usually Red, White, Golden, etc. Lion.)

a. 1366[?].  Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 894. Y-painted al … with briddes, libardes, and lyouns.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), viii. 86. Lyouns of Gold.

1487.  Will, in Paston Lett., III. 464. An hanging bed, with a lyon thereupon.

1534.  in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford, 118. Ye marke which ye Mayor … had striken in ye … butchers waytes,… which marke was ye lyon and crowne.

1562.  in Welch, Tower Bridge (1894), 83. To one that brought home a lyone blowen downe upon London Bridge, 4d.

1564–78.  Bulleyn, Dial. agst. Pest. (1888), 18. Bearyng upon his breast a white Lion.

1611.  Coryat, Crudities (1776), I. 237. A great red flagge … with the winged Lyon made in it in gold.

1745.  P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 21. The Lion was very loose, and would certainly have been lost but for … two strong Supporters … fix’d from the Ship’s Bows to secure him.

1838.  Murray’s Hand-bk. N. Germ., 376. A colossal lion, of cast iron.

1855.  Tennyson, Daisy, 55. Porch-pillars on the lion resting, And sombre, old, colonnaded aisles.

  b.  spec. in Her.

c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., 1040. Wiþ alaunce … He smot him in þe lyoun, And tristrem,… Bar him þurch þe dragoun In þe scheld.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 5927. Thre lions the lord bare all of light goulis.

1449.  Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 222. The White Lioun [i.e., the Duke of Norfolk] is leyde to slepe.

1591.  Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. v. 28. Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight, Or tear the lions out of England’s coat.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., V. 265. The Lionis, quhilkes the kingis of Scotis weiris in thair armes.

1805.  Scott, Last Minstrel, IV. xxiii. The lion argent decked his breast.

1813.  Gentl. Mag., LXXXIII. 37/2. With supporters (lion and unicorn) of the Royal arms.

1868.  Cussans, Her., vi. (1882), 84. Three Lions passant-guardant in pale or, on a field gules, constitute the Arms of England.

  c.  British Lion, the lion as the national emblem of Great Britain; hence often used fig. for the British nation. Similarly Scottish lion.

1687.  Dryden, Hind & P., I. 289. Such mercy from the British Lyon flows.

1796.  Burke, Regic. Peace, iii. Wks. VIII. 293. He would no longer amuse the British Lion in the chace of mice and rats.

1806.  Naval Chron., XV. 52. Each [of the seamen] appeared a true-bred cub of the British Lion.

1849.  W. E. Aytoun, Lays Sc. Caval., Heart Bruce, xxv. We’ll let the Scottish lion loose Within the fields of Spain!

1853.  Lytton, My Novel, XII. xxv. IV. 174. The British Lion is aroused!

1859.  Thackeray, Virgin., lxiv. The British Lion, or any other lion, cannot always have a worthy enemy to combat, or a battle royal to deliver.

  6.  a. A gold coin current in Scotland down to the reign of James VI. b. A Scottish copper coin = HARDHEAD². Obs. exc. Hist.

1451.  Sc. Acts Jas. II. (1814), II. 40/1. Item þ^t þare be strikyn ane new penny of golde callit a lyon w^t þe prent of þe lyon on þe ta side & the ymage of Sanct Andro on þe toþer side…. And þat þe said new lyon … sall ryn for vjs. viijd. of the said new mone.

a. 1557.  Diurn. Occurr. (Bannatyne Club), 344. Lyounis vtherwayes callit hardheidis.

a. 1572.  Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 365 (MS. G). Daylie thair was suche numbers of Lions (alias called Hardheids) prented, that [etc.].

1899.  Grueber, Handbk. Coins Gt. Brit. & Irel., 169, 184.

  7.  The constellation and zodiacal sign LEO. Also Little Lion: the constellation Leo Minor.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Frankl. T., 330. Next at this opposicion Which in the signe shal be of the leon.

1509.  Hawes, Past. Pleas., XLIV. (Percy Soc.), 216. Out of the Lyon to enter the Vyrgyne.

1697.  Creech, Manilius, II. 44. The Lion … The squeezing Crab, and stinging Scorpion.

1868.  Lockyer, Guillemin’s Heavens (ed. 3), 326. To conclude our examination of the constellations visible on the 22nd of March at midnight, we must notice … the Little Lion above the Lion.

  † 8.  Lion of the sea: a. ? A kind of lobster (cf. F. lion de mer). b. = SEA-LION. Obs.

1598.  Epulario, G iij b. To dresse the fish called the Lion of the sea.

1772.  Ann. Reg., 92/1. These sea-wolves, which he calls lions.

  † 9.  Alchemy. Green lion: a ‘spirit’ of great transmuting power, supposed to be produced by certain processes in alchemy; sometimes identified with the ‘philosophical mercury.’ Obs.

1471.  Ripley, Comp. Alch. Recapitulation in Ashmole Theatr. Chem. Brit. (1652), 188. The Spottyd Panther wyth the Lyon greene.

15[?].  A. Andrewes (title), Hunting of the Greene Lyon, ibid. 278.

1593.  G. Harvey, Pierce’s Super., Wks. (Grosart), II. 69. He would seeme to haue the Green Lion and the flying Eagle in a box.

1605.  Timme, Quersit., I. xiii. 53. A greene sharpe spirit…. This is that greene lyon which Rypley commendeth so much.

1610.  B. Jonson, Alch., II. ii. Your generall colours, sir, of the pale citron, the greene lyon, the crow, The peacocks taile.

  10.  attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attrib., as lion-colo(u)r, -cub, -kind, -lair, -skin, -whelp; b. objective, as lion-keeper, -stalking, -tamer, -taming; c. similative, as lion-bold, -sick adjs. (see also 12); d. parasynthetic, as lion-footed, -headed, -hued, -maned, -mettled, -thoughted adjs.; e. instrumental, as lion-guarded, -haled, -haunted adjs.

1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. ii. 21. Wisemen stout, and stung, grow *Lion-bold.

1551–2.  Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI., c. 6 § 23. Anye other color or colors then … *lyon color motteley or iren grey.

1662.  Merrett, trans. Neri’s Art of Glass, xlii. In the bottom there will remain a Lion colour.

1726.  Gay, Fables, I. xix. 13–14. A *Lyon-cub, of sordid mind, Avoided all the lyon-kind.

1610.  Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, 686. Ausonius makes her [i.e., the Sphynx] … *Lyon-footed.

1898.  J. Davidson, Last Ballad, etc. (1899), 149. The trader and the usurer Have passed the *lion-guarded door.

1871.  R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, lxiii. 76. Cybele, the thong relaxing from a *lion-haled yoke.

1870.  Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 239. The *lion-haunted woods.

1864.  Pusey, Lect. Daniel, iii. 115. The human-headed lions and bulls, and perhaps conversely, the *lion-headed men were religious, not political symbols at all.

1591.  Percivall, Sp. Dict., Leonado, *lion hued, fuluus.

a. 1843.  Southey, Comm.-pl. Bk., Ser. II. 645. If one of these lions enraged is going to assail the spectators, the *lion-keepers hold under his nose the confiture of Gazelles’ meat [etc.].

1711.  Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), II. 188. Representations of human victorys over the *lion-kind.

1727.  [see lion-cub].

1860.  Pusey, Min. Proph., 361. Nineveh was still one vast *lion-lair.

1851.  H. Melville, Whale, lxxxvii. 428. The *lion-maned buffaloes of the West.

1605.  Shaks., Macb., IV. i. 90. Be *Lyon metled, proud. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., II. iii. 93. He is not sicke. Aia. Yes, *Lyon sicke, sicke of proud heart.

1805.  Southey, Ballads & Metr. Tales, Poet. Wks. VI. 267. He could have swallowed Hercules, Club, *lion-skin, and all.

1890.  ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Miner’s Right, xliv. We are graciously permitted … to try a little *lion-stalking in Algeria.

1798.  Sotheby, trans. Wieland’s Oberon, V. viii. O’er me the *lion-tamer holds his hand.

1820.  Keats, Hyperion, II. 63. Tiger-passion’d, *lion-thoughted, wroth.

a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter ciii. 22. *Lyoun whelpes … seke fra god mete vnto þa.

14[?].  Wyclif’s Gen. xlix. 9 (MS. S.). Judas a lyoun whelp.

1864.  Tennyson, En. Ard., 98. The portal-warding lion-whelp, And peacock-yewtree of the lonely Hall.

  11.  Special comb.: lion-ant, the same as ant-lion; † lion-cat, an Angora cat; † lion-cudweed, the Edelweiss (see lion’s foot in b); lion-dog [after F. chien-lion (Buffon)], a variety of dog having a flowing mane; lion-dollar (see DOLLAR 5): lion-dragon, a heraldic beast having the fore-part like a lion and the hind part like a wyvern; lion forceps (see quot.); lion-hunter, one who hunts lions; one who is given to lionizing celebrities; lion-hunting, the action of a lion-hunter, lit. and fig. (in quot. † going in quest of the ‘lions’ of a place); † lion-leopard (F. lion léoparde), a lion passant guardant; = LEOPARD 3 b; lion-lizard, the basilisk, its crest being compared to a lion’s mane; lion-monkey, the marikina or silky marmoset; † lion noble = 6 a; lion-poisson Her. [F. poisson fish] (see quot. 1868); lion-show jocular, a gathering of ‘lions’ or celebrities; lion-skinned a., clothed in a lion’s skin, fig. with allusion to the ass in the fable (cf. 2 e); † lion-string, some kind of string for musical instruments; lion-tailed baboon, monkey, the wanderoo (Macacus silenus); lion-tawny a., of the tawny color characteristic of lions; also sb.; lion-tiger, used attrib. of a cub bred between a lion and a tiger.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VII. 323. Of the Formica Leo, or *Lion-Ant.

1845.  Darwin, Voy. Nat., xix. (1852), 442, note. This Australian pit-fall was only about half the size of that made by the European lion-ant.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. IV. i. 359. The *lion cat; or as others more properly term it, the cat of Angora.

1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. cxcv. § 10. 517. Leontopodium sine Pes Leoninus, *Lion Cudweede.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1824), II. i. 9. The *Lion Dog greatly resembles that animal, in miniature, from whence it takes the name.

1845.  Youatt, Dog, 50. The Lion Dog…. The origin of this breed is not known; it is, perhaps, an intermediate one between the Maltese and the Turkish dog.

1697.  Virginia St. Papers (1875), I. 52. Dollers, comonly called *Lyon or Dog Dollers, have no vallue ascertained whereby they may pass currantly amongst the inhabitants of this County.

1610.  Guillim, Heraldry, III. xxvi. 183. *Lions-dragons, Lions-Poisons, and whatsoeuer other double shaped animall of any two … of the … kinds before handled.

1864.  P. Holme, Syst. Surg., IV. 1045. The *‘lion forceps’ of Fergusson … is a strong straight forceps provided with two sets of teeth … by which it obtains a firm hold on a bone.

1839.  Penny Cycl., XIV. 32/1. (art. Lion) The dangers and hair-breadth escapes of the *lion-hunters.

1840.  Carlyle, Heroes (1858), 330. These Lion-hunters were the ruin and death of Burns. [Cf. the name ‘Mrs. Leo Hunter’ in Dickens, Pickwick (1837).]

1878.  Athenæum, 19 Jan., 81/2. Keats, the obscure medical student, who died before a single lion-hunter had found him out.

1770.  C. Jenner, Placid Man (1773), I. 120. *Lion-hunting … being the whole end and design of travelling.

1612.  Selden, Notes on Drayton’s Poly-olb., xi. 182. Being blazon’d in Hierom de Bara, and other French heralds, *Lion-Leopards.

1707.  Funnell, Voy., ii. 35. A large sort of Lizard called a *Lion-lizard.

1738.  Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XL. 347. Lacertus griseus. The Lion Lizard.

1803.  Sarrett, New Pict. Lond., 115. In one of the glass cases is a beautiful *lion-monkey.

1586.  Min. Privy C., 10 Dec., in Burns, Coinage Scot. (1887), II. 389. *Lyoun noblis.

1887.  Burns, ibid., 388. Lion nobles or Scottish angels.

1610.  *Lion-Poisons [see lion-dragon].

1868.  Cussans, Her., vi. (1882), 101. The Lion-poisson, or Sea-lion, which has the head and shoulders of a Lion, with fins for paws, and the nowed tail of a Fish for a body.

1839.  Lockhart, Scott (1869), III. xix. 186, note. Mr. Coleridge’s own stately account of this *lion-show in Grosvenor Street.

1768–74.  Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 596. Hail, glorious Liberty!… *Lion-skinned Freethinking, safe affector of thy bravery … claims to be the sole gatherer up of thy spoils.

1659.  Howell, Vocab., I. Sig. Y yyyyyy. Wire strings, gut strings, venice catlings, nimikins, *Lion strings; Diverse sorti di corde.

1781.  Pennant, Quadrupeds, I. 183. *Lion-tailed Baboon. Ibid. Plate xxii. Lion tailed Monky.

1893.  Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., I. 113. The Lion-Tailed Monkey (Macacus silenus). These monkeys inhabit the Malabar, or Western, Coast of India.

1573.  Art of Limming, 8. If you mingle redde Lead and Masticot together, you shal have thereof a *Lyon tawney.

1611.  Cotgr., Lionnin..., of a Lyon-tawnie colour.

1885.  Burton, Arab. Nts. (1886), I. Foreword 7. The boundless waste of lion-tawny clays and gazelle-brown gravels.

1839.  Penny Cycl., XIV. 35/1. *Lion-Tiger Cubs.

  b.  Combinations with lion’s (mostly plant-names): † lion’s claw, (a) Black Hellebore, Helleborus niger; (b) a kind of oyster; lion’s ear, ‘a common name in the Andes for some species of Culcitium; also Espeletia and Leonotis’ (Treas. Bot., 1866); lion’s foot, (a) Lady’s Mantle, Alchemilla vulgaris; (b) Black Hellebore; (c) the genus Leontopodium, esp. L. alpinum, the Edelweiss; lion’s heart, a plant of the U.S., Physostegia virginiana; lion’s leaf, any plant of the genus Leontice, esp. L. Leontopetalum; lion’s leap, an acrobatic leap or somersault; cf. F. sault du lion (Cotgr.); lion’s mouth, a name for Antirrhinum majus; lion’s paw = lion’s foot; lion’s snap = lion’s mouth; lion’s tail, (a) the plant Leonotis Leonurus, from the supposed resemblance of the inflorescence to the tuft of a lion’s tail; (b) Motherwort, Leonurus Cardiaca; lion’s tooth or teeth, the Dandelion; † lion’s turnip, = lion’s leaf.

1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Lion, Patte de lion, *Lyons claw, Setterwort, Settergrasse, bastard blacke Ellebore.

1759.  Mrs. Delaney, in Life & Corr. (1861), III. 569. Kind of oysters called the lion’s claw.

1835.  Booth, Analyt. Dict., 261. Leonotis, *Lion’s ear.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 98. Ðeos wyrt þe man pedem leonis, & oðrum naman *leon-fot nemneð.

1538.  Turner, Libellus, Lyons fote, Elleborum nigrum.

1611.  Cotgr., Alchimille, Lionsfoot, Ladies mantle, great Sanicle.

1845.  A. Wood, Class-bk. Bot., 282. Physostegia Virginiana.… A beautiful plant native in Penn. and southward…. *Lion’s heart.

1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. iv. § 4. 182. Plinie doth call it also Leontopetalon, Apuleius Leontopodion…. In English *Lyons leafe and Lyons Turnep.

1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 317. Lion’s-leaf, Leontice.

1882.  J. Smith, Dict. Plants, 247. Lion’s leaf (Leontice Leontopetalum), a herbaceous plant of the Barberry family.

1883.  Chamb. Jrnl., 131. The *lions-leap, flip-flap, &c., of the acrobat.

1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Lion’s Mouth, Lion’s-Paw, Lion’s-Tooth, several sorts of Herbs.

1773.  Hist. Brit. Dom. North Amer., XI. iii. 189. The flower called the lion’s-mouth … forms a sweet nosegay of itself, and is worthy the gardens of kings.

1591.  Percivall, Sp. Dict., Pata de Leon, *Lions pawe, Leontopetalon.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, II. 262. The leaues of Lions paw.

1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. clv. § 4. 439. Snapdragon is called in English Calues snout, Snapdragon, and *Lyons snap.

1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 317. *Lion’s-tail, Leonurus.

1562.  Bulleyn, Def. agst. Sickness (1579), 10. The vertue of Dandelion or *Lyons teeth.

1886.  Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Lion’s teeth, Leontodon Taraxacum.

1597.  *Lyons Turnep [see lion’s leaf].

1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Lion, Some also tearme Lyons leafe, and Lyons Turnep, pes Lioninus.

  12.  attrib. passing into adj. = ‘lion-like; characteristic of a lion; strong, brave, or fierce as a lion.’

1614.  Jonson, Barth. Fair, II. iii. (1631), 21. You shall not fright me with your Lyon-chap.

1671.  Milton, Samson, 139. The bold Ascalonite Fled from his Lion ramp.

1681.  Dryden, Sp. Fryar, I. 1. Pox o’ this Lyon-way of wooing though. Ibid., IV. 57. Gross Feeders, Lion talkers, Lamb-like fighters.

1752.  Young, Brothers, I. i. Wks. 1757, II. 205. We’ll seek his lion Sire, Who dares to frown on us, his conquerors.

1757.  Gray, Bard, 117. Her lion-port, her awe-commanding face.

1795.  J. Fawcett, Art of War, 31. The savage soldier … Nurs’d in no silken lap, his lion-nerves, Strings strong as steel.

1813.  Shelley, Q. Mab, viii. 196. The jackal of ambition’s lion-rage.

1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. 274. May,… barking in her tremendous lion-note, and putting down the other noises like a clap of thunder.

1842.  Tennyson, Eng. & Amer. in 1782, 3. Strong mother of a Lion-line.

1849.  Blackw. Mag., Feb., 156. This true soldier … had fallen in that lion-rush which Richard made at his foe.

1860.  Pusey, Min. Proph., 266. Jonah feared not the fierceness of their lion-nature, but God’s tenderness.