SPHINX

[noun] [C] [plural] sphinx or sphinxes - an ancient imaginary creature with a lion's body and a woman's headAccording to ancient Greek legend, the sphinx set a riddle which no one before Oedipus was able to answer.She's as inscrutable as a sphinx (= it is difficult to tell what she is thinking).The sphinx are also large stone statues, each with a lion's body and a person's head, found in the desert near Cairo in Egypt.The cat just sat there, sphinx-like and mysterious.