sphinx
/ˈsfɪŋks/ verb C2- To decorate with sphinxes. · a marble sphinxed chimney-piece
- To adopt the posture of the Sphinx. · A hot lion with a very bloated stomach … will adopt either a sphinxed or a squatting posture which takes some of the weight off its belly.· Several animals maintained either a crouched … or a sphinxing posture (abdomen on the floor)
- To be inscrutable, often through silence.
- To behave in a manner characteristic of the Sphinx.
He/she/it sphinxes · Past sphinxed · Past participle sphinxed · -ing form sphinxing
Verb forms
- Base form
- sphinx
- He/she/it
- sphinxes
- Past
- sphinxed
- Past participle
- sphinxed
- -ing form
- sphinxing
From the library
But for once his sphinx-like features had relaxed and there was a warm humanity in his eyes.
Franz did not doubt that these plans were the same concerning which the count had dropped a few words in the grotto of Monte Cristo, and while the count was speaking the young man watched him closely, hoping to read something of his purpose in his face, but his countenance was inscrutable especially when, as in the present case, it was veiled in a sphinx-like smile.
It would have required the penetration of Œdipus or the Sphinx to have divined the irony the count concealed beneath these words, apparently uttered with the greatest politeness.
Other matches
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