Dictionary

sphinx en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• sfĭngks
• (US) audio
• /ˈsfɪŋks/

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”).

Meanings

1. A creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal, commonly a lion.
   • [W]hatsoe'er of strange / Sculptured on alabaster obelisk, / Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphynx, / Dark Æthiopia in her desert hills. / Conceals. 1815 September 10 – December 14, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude”, in Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude: And Other Poems, London: […] Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, […]; and Carpenter and Son, […] [b]y S[amuel] Hamilton, […], published 1816, →OCLC, page 9:
2. (figuratively) A person who keeps their thoughts and intentions secret; an enigmatic or impassive person.
   • ...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. 1985 February 21, Antonio Lamer, “Brouillard Also Known As Chatel v. The Queen, 1985 CanLII 56 (SCC)”, in CanLII, retrieved 22 Oct 2021:
3. (dated) A mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), formerly classified as a baboon, and called sphinx baboon.
4. A sphinx moth.
5. (euphemistic, rare) A sphincter.
   • Constance said boastfully, ‘My sphinxes are strong and in good repair. I order you to come.’ 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 836:

Forms

Deriveds

sphinxineness · sphinxial · white-lined sphinx · Achemon sphinx · Tantalus sphinx · sphinx-figure · sphinxishness · sphinx moth · Nessus sphinx · tomato sphinx · sphinx-lined · sphinxity · sphinx-faced · sphinxian · sphinxy · sphinxine · sphinx-form · sphinxish · sphinxoid · sphinxlike · satellite sphinx · sphinx-guarded · Virginia creeper sphinx · sphinxily · sphinxiness · sphinx-look

Hyponyms

hieracosphinx · gynosphinx · androsphinx · criosphinx

Relateds

chimera · sphingal · sphingine · sphingian

Synonyms

enigma

Translations (63)

egy Szp:p-A53 (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · fo sfinksur (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · fi sfinksi (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · vo sfin (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · vo hisfin (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ka სფინქსი (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · io sfinxo (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · pl sfinks (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ja 獅子女 (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · no sfinks (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · pt esfinge (person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret) · es esfinge (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ar أَبُو الهَوْل (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · da sfinks (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ja 人頭獅身 (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · sh сфинга (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ko 스핑크스 (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · grc Σφίγξ (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · et sphinx (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · bg сфинкс (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · cs sfinga (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · de Sphinx (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ca esfinx (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ja 人獅 (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · sh sfinga (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · pt esfinge (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · lt sfinksas (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · mr स्फिंक्स (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · eo sfinkso (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ca esfinx (person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret) · ro sfinx (person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret) · cs sfinx (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · th สฟิงซ์ (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · fi sfinksi (person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret) · id sfinks (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · sv sfinx (person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret) · sk sfinga (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · it sfinge (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · uk сфінкс (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ja スフィンクス (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ro sfinx (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · sv sfinx (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ast esfinxe (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · tr sfenks (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · cmn 斯芬克斯 (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · el σφίγγα (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · hu szfinx (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · sv gåta (person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret) · ms sfinks (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · de Sphinx (person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret) · fr sphinx (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · tl espinghe (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · cmn 人頭獅身 /人头狮身 (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · mk сфинга (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · nl sfinx (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · ru сфинкс (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · vi nhân sư (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · cmn 獅頭人像 /狮头人像 (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · pl sfinks (person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret) · gl esfinxe (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · vo jisfin (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · eu esfinge (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal) · fr sphinge (mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal)

sphinx en · VERB

Pronunciation

• sfĭngks
• (US) audio
• /ˈsfɪŋks/

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”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To decorate with sphinxes.
   • a marble sphinxed chimney-piece
2. (intransitive, transitive) To adopt the posture of the Sphinx.
   • Several animals maintained either a crouched … or a sphinxing posture (abdomen on the floor)
   • 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.
3. (intransitive, transitive) To be inscrutable, often through silence.
   • 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. 1964, John Hargrave, The Suvla Bay Landing, page 22:
   • 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. 1933 February, Gladys Hall, “The Hollywood Frivolities of 1932”, in Motion Picture, volume 45, page 29:
   • The sphinxèd riddle of the Universe, Nature's unsolved enigma, who may prove? 1900, Leigh Gordon Giltner, “Love and Death”, in The Path of Dreams: Poems, page 27:
4. (intransitive) To behave in a manner characteristic of the Sphinx.
   • 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. 1986, Andreas Huyssen, After the Great Divide: Modernism, Mass Culture, Postmodernism, page 53:
   • 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[…] 1933, Roycroft Junto Outlines, The Roycrofters, page 412:

Forms