man-tigern.
/ˈmanˌtʌɪɡə/, U.S. /ˈmænˌtaɪɡər/ I. Senses referring to human beings.
1. A man resembling a tiger in ferocity, rapacity, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > fierceness > [noun] > person or being
wolfa900
liona1225
wild manc1290
boar1297
fell1340
tiger?a1513
centaur1565
wolver1593
to speak bandog and Bedlam1600
vulture1605
killbuck1612
man-tigera1652
Tartar1669
hyena1671
dragoon1712
vampire1741
Huna1744
panther1868
a1652 R. Brome Queenes Exchange (1657) i. iii. sig. D 2/1 We have hitherto Pass'd by these man-Tygers, these wolvish Outlaws safely.
1794 J. P. Kemble Lodoiska iii. 45 (stage direct.) Seeing the Baron. The man-tiger to swallow me up for his breakfast.
1837 in Amer. Hist. Rev. (1929) 34 252 The scramble for wealth has..been rendered more than usually ardent and headlong by the general peace which has existed since the last great man-tiger was caged at Waterloo.
?1851 E. Stirling Bould Soger Boy ii. 12 (stage direct.) Mr. John William, a man tiger, very showily dressed, enters... Let me persuade you to tie the gorg—e—ous knot—become Mrs. John William.
1986 18th-cent. Stud. 20 2 Look about you, he [sc. Diderot] says, and you cannot fail to see a man-mole, a man-tiger, an eel, a pike, a lamb, a pig.
2. In some systems of mythology or folk belief: a man who assumes the form of a tiger.
ΚΠ
1871 E. B. Tylor Primitive Culture I. iv. 102 The Lavas of Birma, supposed to be the broken-down remains of an ancient cultured race, and dreaded as man-tigers.
1872 Nature 29 Feb. 343/1 The analogous belief in man-hyenas, man-tigers, &c.
1941 J. Masefield Gautama 35 Man-tigers dragged the white form nearer As victim on that stone to lie.
1973 Amer. Hist. Rev. 78 996 The thick, down-turned lips exemplify a widely used man-tiger stylistic convention based upon a legendary transformation of beast into man that was present in Mesoamerica from early Monte Albán times.
II. Senses referring to animals.† 3. = mantegar n. Obsolete.In quot. 1784 with punning allusion to sense 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > order Primates > suborder Anthropoidea (higher primates) > [noun] > group Catarrhinae (Old World monkey) > family Cercopithecidae > genus Papio (baboon) > unspecified and miscellaneous type of
mantegar1704
man-tiger1755
chacma1835
1755 Hist. Descr. Tower London 24 There is likewise a young Man Tyger, a curious Animal of astonishing Strength [etc.].
1784 H. Cowley More Ways than One i. 12 Oh horrid! a male cousin in the family of a young married woman is a worse monster than a man-tiger.
1797 Encycl. Brit. X. 544/2 Mantegar, or Man-tiger,..is the tufted ape.
4. Heraldry. = manticore n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > heraldic representations of creatures > [noun] > monsters
dragonc1330
griffina1400
yalec1425
mermaid1445
manticorec1470
cockatrice1513
mermaiden1538
opinicus1546
lituit1562
Pegasus1562
equicerve1572
harpy1572
lyciske1572
verme1572
wyver1599
merman1601
lion-dragon1610
lion-poisson1610
wyvern1610
Sagittarius1619
sagittary1632
man-fish1653
sea lion1661
satyral1724
man-tiger1780
sea-dog1780
Welsh dragon1799
camelopardel1830
satyr1845
serpivolant1866
sea monkey1909
1780 J. Edmondson Compl. Body Heraldry II. (Gloss.) Man-Tyger, or Manticora, an imaginary beast..supposed to have the body..of a lion.
1909 A. C. Fox-Davies Compl. Guide Heraldry xiii. 232 The Manticora, Mantegre, or Man-Tiger is the same as the man-lion, but has horns attached to its forehead.
1969 J. Franklyn & J. Tanner Encycl. Dict. Heraldry 215/2 Man-tygre, an heraldic tygre having the horned head of an old-man; hence identical with the lympago.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1652