Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun, plural chi·me·ras.
- (often initial capital letter) a mythological, fire-breathing monster, commonly represented with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail.
- any similarly grotesque monster having disparate parts, especially as depicted in decorative art.
- a horrible or unreal creature of the imagination; a vain or idle fancy: He is far different from the chimera your fears have made of him.
- Genetics. an organism composed of two or more genetically distinct tissues, as an organism that is partly male and partly female, or an artificially produced individual having tissues of several species.
noun
- (often capital) Greek myth a fire-breathing monster with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a serpent
- a fabulous beast made up of parts taken from various animals
- a wild and unrealistic dream or notion
- biology an organism, esp a cultivated plant, consisting of at least two genetically different kinds of tissue as a result of mutation, grafting, etc
fabulous monster, late 14c., from Old French chimere or directly from Medieval Latin chimera, from Latin Chimaera, from Greek khimaira, name of a mythical creature, slain by Bellerophon, with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail (supposedly personification of snow or winter); literally “year-old she-goat” (masc. khimaros), from kheima “winter season” (see hibernation). Figurative meaning “wild fantasy” first recorded 1580s in English (attested 13c. in French).
Beestis clepid chymeres, that han a part of ech beest, and suche ben not, no but oonly in opynyoun. [Wyclif, “Prologue”]
n.
- One who has received a transplant of genetically and immunologically different tissue.
- Twins with two immunologically different types of red blood cells.
A monster in classical mythology who had the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon or serpent.