sēmĭ-fer, fĕra, fĕrum, adj. [ferus], halfbestial, half man and half beast.
I Lit.: semifer interea divinae stirpis alumno Laetus erat, i. e. the Centaur Chiron , Ov. M. 2, 633; so of the Centaurs, id. ib. 12, 406; Stat. Th. 9, 220; Luc. 6, 386: caput Panis, Lucr. 4, 587: pectus (Tritonis), Verg. A. 10, 212: corpus Capricorni (because half goat and half fish), Cic. Arat. 59 Orell. N. cr. : species hominum (with portenta), Lucr. 2, 702 et saep.—
II Trop., half-wild , half-savage : (Cacus), Verg. A. 8, 267 (for which, semihomo, id. ib. 194): glires semiferum animal, Plin. 8, 57, 82, § 224: proles (canis), Grat. Cyn. 253: genus hominum, Plin. 6, 19, 22, § 66; Sil. 3, 542.