sphinxes

Meaning of sphinxes

noun
  1. A creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal (commonly a lion).
  2. A person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret; an enigmatic person.
  3. A mandrill, Mandrillus sphinx, formerly classified a baboon, and called sphinx baboon.
  4. A sphinx moth.
  5. A sphincter.
verb
  1. To decorate with sphinxes
    a marble sphinxed chimney-piece
  2. To adopt the posture of the Sphinx.
    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. To be inscrutable, often through silence
    (1900) The sphinxèd riddle of the Universe / Nature's unsolved enigma, who may prove?
  4. To make one guess at the unknowable
    (1933) 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 ...
  5. To befuddle
    (2010) She swiveled and sphinxed Giles. 'And you, I suppose you've never been here either?' Giles squirmed. 'Well, I – that is, Miss Wh—, I mean, Miss Taylor, I –' He looked to me for rescue.
  6. For the feminine to co-opt, dominate, or devour the masculine, especially from a paranoid fear of this happening
    (1986) modernism's fears of being sphinxed by a feminized mass culture

Information about sphinxes

  • The singular form of sphinxes is: sphinx.
  • Languages ​​in which sphinxes is used:

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Hyphenation of sphinxes

sphinxes

  • It consists of 1 syllables and 8 chars.
  • sphinxes is a word monosyllabic because it has one syllable

sphinxes synonyms

Meaning :

enigma

Words that rhyme with sphinxes

phalanxes, Sphinxes, androsphinxes, criosphinxes, hieracosphinxes, jinxes, minxes, outjinxes, salpinxes, spninxes, syrinxes, quincunxes, yunxes, cytopharynxes, hypopharynxes, jynxes, laryngopharynxes, larynxes, lynxes, nasopharynxes, oropharynxes, pharynxes

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