lion

noun

1. A big cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa, India and formerly much of Europe.

   “Tigers and lions share a common ancestor from a few million years ago.”

   “For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.”

   “Sinibaldus lists lion's fat as a popular medieval aphrodisiac treatment.”

2. A big cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa, India and formerly much of Europe.
3. (broadly)Any of various extant and extinct big cats, especially the mountain lion.
4. A Chinese foo dog.
5. A person who shows attributes associated with the lion, such as strength, courage, or ferocity.

   “It was said of [Edward Plantaganet] that ‘he was a lion for pride and ferocity but a pard for inconstancy and changeableness, not keeping his word or promise but excusing himself with fair words’.”

6. A famous person regarded with interest and curiosity.

   “During this period, we were the lions of the neighbourhood; and, no doubt, strangers from the distant villages were taken to see the "Karhowrees" (white men), in the same way that countrymen, in a city, are gallanted to the Zoological Gardens.”

   “Such society was far more enjoyable than that of Edinburgh, for here he was not a lion, but a man.”

   “The men were delighted to go, and became the lions of the following season in Adelaide.”

   “Rose Waterford was a cynic. She looked upon life as an opportunity for writing novels and the public as her raw material. Now and then she invited members of it to her house if they showed an appreciation of her talent and entertained with proper lavishness. She held their weakness for lions in good-humoured contempt, but played to them her part of the distinguished woman of letters with decorum.”

   “Heated comments were exchanged, and, before anyone could say, "festival," the two lions of the folk power structure were rolling in the dirt.”

7. A light brown color that resembles the fur of a lion.
8. (historical)An old Scottish coin, with a lion on the obverse, worth 74 shillings.
9. A player for National Football League's Detroit Lions.
10. (Canadian)A player for Canadian Football League's B.C. Lions.
11. A player for the England football team.
12. A player or supporter of the Brisbane Lions.

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of the light brown color that resembles the fur of a lion.

name

1. The constellation and zodiacal sign Leo.

   “The Lion reigneth in the Back, Sides, Bones, Sinews and Griſles.”

   “Those stars said to belong to the Ram might as well be supposed to belong to the Bull or the Lion.”

   “The constellations of the Lion and the Scorpion, there can be no doubt, were appropriate star marks for the summer and autumn seasons, when the spring equinoctial point was in the Bull.”

   “"'Tis the simplest thing in the world, sir," said Sheridan. "Virgo, the Maiden, follows Leo, the Lion, in society, as well as in the Zodiac."”

   “[T]he Lion is of course one of the most prominent constellations of the Zodiac, and its conquest is obviously the work of a Saviour of mankind.”