Dictionary

man-eater en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. An animal that attacks and kills humans for food, such as certain tigers or sharks; any animal that consumes human flesh.
   • Man-eaters are more newsworthy than three-foot-long harmless sharks with tiny teeth. 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 146:
   • And particularly, he knows where to find the primitive substance of the man eater: howsoever evaporate or reduced, as it were, into air or vapour, by sweat or perspiration. 1776, Thomas Boston, The Human Nature in its Fourfold State, page 336:
   • His origin amongst monsters and man-eaters signals the play's recurrent concerns with monstrification, with eating others or being eaten by them, and with issues of specularity […] 1995, Bradley William Johnson, Birthed Effects: Shakespeare's Generation of Monsters, page 67:
2. A carnivorous plant large enough to consume a human; a man-eating plant.
3. A cannibal; a human that eats other humans.
   • For how a race of Man-eaters should spring up in these islands, when none of the nations on the continents from whence they must derive their original are charged with these savage customs, is not easy to conceive[.] 1724, Thomas Salmon, Modern History, Or, The Present State of All Nations, page 287:
   • A stout ferocious-looking fellow, with muscular bandy legs, came in as I was conversing on the subject of cannibalism, and was pointed out to me as a celebrated marksman and man eater. 1827 February 2, The Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, Hobart, page 2, column 2:
4. (broadly, slang) A seductive dangerous woman, often readily taking and discarding male romantic partners.
   • "That only proves she has affairs with them too. She's a man-eater." 1945, Norman Lindsay, The Cousin from Fiji, page 233:
   • Watch out, boy, she'll chew you up (Oh-oh, here she comes) She's a maneater 1982 September 28, Sara Allen, Daryl Hall, John Oates, “Maneater”, in H₂O, performed by Hall & Oates:

Forms

Coordinates

lady-killer

Relateds

man-eating

Synonyms

siren · wolfess · temptress · femme fatale · vixen · she-wolf · man-eater · enchantress · mantrap · vamp · seductress · femme fatale

Translations (68)

cs lidožrout (cannibal — see also cannibal) · sv människoätare (animal that eats humans) · fa آدمخوار (animal that eats humans) · az adamyeyən (animal that eats humans) · la hominivora (animal that eats humans) · uk людої́д (animal that eats humans) · mk човеко́јадец (cannibal — see also cannibal) · is mannæta (cannibal — see also cannibal) · pl ludojad (animal that eats humans) · fi ihmissyöjä (animal that eats humans) · es bajapantalones (woman) · hi नरभक्षी (animal that eats humans) · pl kanibal (cannibal — see also cannibal) · pl ludojad (cannibal — see also cannibal) · uk людоже́р (animal that eats humans) · be людае́д (animal that eats humans) · hy մարդակեր (cannibal — see also cannibal) · ru людое́д (animal that eats humans) · mi kaitangata (cannibal — see also cannibal) · hi नरभक्षक (animal that eats humans) · it mangiauomini (woman) · sv manslukerska (woman) · pt canibal (cannibal — see also cannibal) · cic hattak-apa' (cannibal — see also cannibal) · de Menschenfresser (cannibal — see also cannibal) · fi ihmissyöjä (cannibal — see also cannibal) · bg човекоя́дец (cannibal — see also cannibal) · fi miestennielijä (woman) · sv människoätare (cannibal — see also cannibal) · hi नरभक्षी (cannibal — see also cannibal) · fi miehennielijä (woman) · hu férfifaló (woman) · tr insan yiyici (animal that eats humans) · sk ľudožrút (cannibal — see also cannibal) · tr erkek yiyici (woman) · ru людое́д (cannibal — see also cannibal) · ru сердцее́дка (woman) · hi नरभक्षक (cannibal — see also cannibal) · uk людоже́р (cannibal — see also cannibal) · hu emberevő (animal that eats humans) · de Menschenfresser (animal that eats humans) · az adamyeyən (cannibal — see also cannibal) · cs lidožrout (animal that eats humans) · cs lidojed (cannibal — see also cannibal) · bg людое́д (cannibal — see also cannibal) · cic hattak-apa' (animal that eats humans) · sk ľudožrút (animal that eats humans) · sl ljudožerec (cannibal — see also cannibal) · be людае́д (cannibal — see also cannibal) · fa آدمخوار (cannibal — see also cannibal) · cs kanibal (cannibal — see also cannibal) · pl ludożerca (cannibal — see also cannibal) · es comehombres (animal that eats humans) · is mannæta (animal that eats humans) · be людажэ́рца (cannibal — see also cannibal) · es bajapanti (woman) · es caníbal (cannibal — see also cannibal) · be людажэ́рца (animal that eats humans) · de Vamp (woman) · sl ljudožerka (cannibal — see also cannibal) · es devorahombres (woman) · ru рокова́я же́нщина (woman) · mi mangō-taniwha (animal that eats humans) · pl antropofag (cannibal — see also cannibal) · ru канниба́л (cannibal — see also cannibal) · bg людое́д (animal that eats humans) · da menneskeæder (animal that eats humans) · uk людої́д (cannibal — see also cannibal)