Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Chimera

Chime′ra

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Chimeras
(#)
.
[L.
chimaera
a chimera (in sense 1), Gr. [GREEK] a she-goat, a chimera, fr. [GREEK] he-goat; cf. Icel.
qymbr
a yearling ewe.]
1.
(Myth.)
A monster represented as vomiting flames, and as having the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon.
“Dire chimeras and enchanted isles.”
Milton.
2.
A vain, foolish, or incongruous fancy, or creature of the imagination;
as, the
chimera
of an author
.
Burke.

Webster 1828 Edition

Chimera

CHIMERA

, n.
1.
In fabulous history, a monster with three heads, that of a lion, of a goat, and of a dragon, vomiting flames. The foreparts of the body wee those of a lion, the middle was that of a goat, and the hinder parts were those of a dragon; supposed to represent a volcanic mountain in Lycia, whose top was the resort of lions, the middle, that of goats, and the foot, that of serpents. Hence,
2.
In modern usage, a vain or idle fancy; a creature of the imagination, composed of contradictions or absurdities, that can have no existence except in thought.

Definition 2024

Chimera

Chimera

See also: chimera, Chimaera, chiméra, and Chiméra

English

Chimera on a red-figure Apulian plate, ca 350-340 BCE (Musée du Louvre)

Proper noun

Chimera

  1. (Greek mythology) One of the many fantastical offspring of Typhon and Echidna, a multi-headed monster represented as vomiting flames. It had the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and a dragon for a tail. Killed by the hero Bellerophon in Lycea.

Translations

chimera

chimera

See also: Chimera, Chimaera, chiméra, and Chiméra

English

Alternative forms

Noun

chimera ‎(plural chimeras)

  1. (mythology) Chimera, or any fantastic creature with parts from different animals
  2. Anything composed of very disparate parts
    He built himself a chimera: half VW, half Porsche.
  3. A vain, foolish, or incongruous fancy, or creature of the imagination; as, the chimera of an author
  4. (genetics) An organism with genetically distinct cells originating from two zygotes
  5. (architecture) A grotesque, like a gargoyle but without a spout for rainwater
  6. (usually chimaera) A cartilaginous marine fish in the subclass Holocephali and especially the order Chimaeriformes, with a blunt snout, long tail, and a spine before the first dorsal fin

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

  • Chimaera
  • Appendix:Glossary of architecture

Italian

Etymology

From Latin chimaera, from Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα ‎(Khímaira).

Noun

chimera f ‎(plural chimere)

  1. chimera
  2. chimera, a kind of shark of the genus Chimaera

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα ‎(Khímaira).

Similar Results