SPHINCTER
Sphinc"ter, a. (Anat.)
Defn: Of, pertaining to, or designating, a sphincter; as, a sphincter muscle.
SPHINGID
Sphin"gid, n. (Zoöl.)
Defn: A sphinx.
SPHINGID
Sphin"gid, a.
Defn: Of or pertaining to a sphinx, or the family Sphingidæ.
SPHINX Sphinx, n. Etym: [L., from Gr. sfi`gx, usually derived from sfi`ggein to bind tight or together, as if the Throttler.]
1. (a) 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. The awful ruins of the days of old . . . Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphinx. Shelley.
(b) 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.
Note: The most famous Grecian sphinx, that of Thebes in Boeotia, is said to have proposed a riddle to the Thebans, and killed those who were unable to guess it. The enigma was solved by "Subtle as sphinx." Shak.