sphinx Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an inscrutable person who keeps his thoughts and intentions secret
  2. noun (Greek mythology) a riddling winged monster with a woman's head and breast on a lion's body; daughter of Typhon
  3. noun one of a number of large stone statues with the body of a lion and the head of a man that were built by the ancient Egyptians

WordNet

Sphinx noun
Etymology
L., from Gr. sfi`gx, usually derived from sfi`ggein to bind tight or together, as if the Throttler.
Definitions
  1. (a) In Egyptian art, an image of granite or porphyry, having a human head, or the head of a ram or of a hawk, upon the wingless body of a lion.
    The awful ruins of the days of old . . . Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphinx. Shelley.
    (b) On Greek art and mythology, a she-monster, usually represented as having the winged body of a lion, and the face and breast of a young woman. The most famous Grecian sphinx, that of Thebes in B&oe;otia, is said to have proposed a riddle to the Thebans, and killed those who were unable to guess it. The enigma was solved by Oedipus, whereupon the sphinx slew herself. "Subtle as sphinx." Shak.
  2. Hence: A person of enigmatical character and purposes, especially in politics and diplomacy.
  3. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of large moths of the family Sphingidæ; -- called also hawk moth. ✍ The larva is a stout naked caterpillar which, when at rest, often assumes a position suggesting the Egyptian sphinx, whence the name.
  4. (Zoöl.) The Guinea, or sphinx, baboon (Cynocephalus sphinx).

Webster 1913