Sphinx

·noun The Guinea, or sphinx, baboon (Cynocephalus sphinx).

II. Sphinx ·noun Hence: A person of enigmatical character and purposes, especially in politics and diplomacy.

III. Sphinx ·noun Any one of numerous species of large moths of the family Sphingidae;

— called also hawk moth.

IV. Sphinx ·noun In Egyptian art, an image of granite or porphyry, having a human head, or the head of a ram or of a hawk, upon the wingless body of a lion.

V. Sphinx ·noun On Greek art and mythology, a she-monster, usually represented as having the winged body of a lion, and the face and breast of a young woman.