/sfingks/ , n. , pl. sphinxes, sphinges /sfin"jeez/ .
1. (in ancient Egypt)
a. a figure of an imaginary creature having the head of a man or an animal and the body of a lion.
b. ( usually cap. ) the colossal recumbent stone figure of this kind near the pyramids of Giza.
2. ( cap. ) Class. Myth. 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.
3. any similar monster.
4. a mysterious, inscrutable person or thing, esp. one given to enigmatic questions or answers.
[ 1375-1425; late ME sphínx, equiv. to sphing-, base of sphíngein to hold tight (cf. SPHINCTER) + -s nom. sing. ending ]