sphinx
Pronunciation: (sfingks), [key]
— pl. sphinx•es, sphin•ges
- (in ancient Egypt)
- a figure of an imaginary creature having the head of a man or an animal and the body of a lion.
- (usually cap.) the colossal recumbent stone figure of this kind near the pyramids of Giza.
- (cap.)a monster, usually represented as having the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. Seated on a rock outside of Thebes, she proposed a riddle to travelers, killing them when they answered incorrectly, as all did before Oedipus. When he answered her riddle correctly the Sphinx killed herself.
- any similar monster.
- a mysterious, inscrutable person or thing, esp. one given to enigmatic questions or answers.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.