sphinx
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: human-sciences
mysticism
mythology
philosophy
sciences
Etymology: From Sphinx, from Middle English Spynx, from Latin Sphinx, from Ancient Greek Σφίγξ (Sphínx), perhaps either from σφίγγω (sphíngō, “to squeeze, to strangle”) (whence also sphincter), of Pre-Greek origin, or from Egyptian Szp:p-A53-anx-n:x (šzp-ꜥnḫ, “divine image”, literally “living image”).
Inflected forms:
form: sphinxes
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: sphinges
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: sphynx
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dated
form: spynx
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: phynx
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: sphinxes
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: sphinxing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: sphinxed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: sphinxed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: sphynx
pos: verb
tags: alternative
dated
form: spynx
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: phynx
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: A creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal, commonly a lion.
pos: noun
examples: [W]hatsoe'er of strange / Sculptured on alabaster obelisk, / Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphynx, / Dark Æthiopia in her desert hills. / Conceals.
gloss: A person who keeps their thoughts and intentions secret; an enigmatic or impassive person.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: ...it is clear that judges are no longer required to be as passive as they once were; to be what I call sphinx judges. We now not only accept that a judge may intervene in the adversarial debate, but also believe that it is sometimes essential for him to do so for justice in fact to be done.
gloss: A mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), formerly classified as a baboon, and called sphinx baboon.
pos: noun
tags: dated
gloss: A sphinx moth.
pos: noun
gloss: A sphincter.
pos: noun
tags: euphemistic
rare
examples: Constance said boastfully, ‘My sphinxes are strong and in good repair. I order you to come.’
gloss: To decorate with sphinxes.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: a marble sphinxed chimney-piece
gloss: To adopt the posture of the Sphinx.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
examples: A hot lion with a very bloated stomach … will adopt either a sphinxed or a squatting posture which takes some of the weight off its belly.
Several animals maintained either a crouched … or a sphinxing posture (abdomen on the floor)
gloss: To be inscrutable, often through silence.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
examples: The sphinxèd riddle of the Universe,
Nature's unsolved enigma, who may prove?
Then there are the folks trying to do a Garbo on us[…]Janet Gaynor, so they tell, is sphinxing it and has gone into a Retirement, with "Nothing to Say — Please Go Away" written on the doormat.
What with Fisher whole-hogging on one side, and K. of K. sphinxing on the other, Churchill had his work cut out to get any sort of agreement at all.
gloss: To behave in a manner characteristic of the Sphinx.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Perhaps Nature is sphinxing us on purpose. Whatever her objects may be, perhaps she gets her work done better when she appeals to our gambling instincts. If you knew for certain exactly how your marriage was going to turn out[…]
And then he summarizes his fears with a reference to that icon which[…]stood for the feminine threat to civilization: “Crowds are somewhat like the sphinx of ancient fable: it is necessary to arrive at a solution of the problems offered by their psychology or to resign ourselves to being devoured by them.” Male fears of an engulfing femininity are here projected onto the metropolitan masses, who did indeed represent a threat to the rational bourgeois order.[…]We may want to relate Le Bon's social psychology of the masses back to modernism's own fears of being sphinxed.
Related words: sphingal
sphingian
sphingine
chimera
Derived words: Achemon sphinx
Nessus sphinx
satellite sphinx
sphinx-faced
sphinx-figure
sphinx-form
sphinx-guarded
sphinxial
sphinxian
sphinxily
sphinxine
sphinxineness
sphinxiness
sphinxish
sphinxishness
sphinxity
sphinxlike
sphinx-lined
sphinx-look
sphinx moth
sphinxoid
sphinxy
Tantalus sphinx
tomato sphinx
Virginia creeper sphinx
white-lined sphinx
Translations: