Forms: α. labarde, lubard, 4–6 lebarde, libarde, lybard, 4–8 libard, 5 leberde, labbarde, 5–6 lybarde, lybbard(e, lyberd(e, liberd(e, 4–7 (and 8–9 arch.) libbard. β. 3 leupar, 3–5 lepard, 4–5 lupard(e, 4–6 leparde, 4 lepart, lip(p)ard, (5 lupart, lupaerd, lyepart(e, lyppart, 6 lyparde), γ. 4 leoperd(e, 4–5 leopart, 4, 6 leoparde, 4, 6– leopard. [ME. leopard, also lebard, lubard, leupard, etc., a. OF. leopard, lebard, leupard, etc. (mod.F. léopard), ad. late L. leopardus (Hist. Aug.), ad. late Gr. λεόπαρδος (S. Ignat., Galen), also λεοντόπαρδος (and λεοντοπάρδαλος, ? 4th c.), f. λεοντ-, λέων LION + πάρδος PARD.
The animal orig. so named was supposed to be a hybrid between lion and ‘pard’: cf. Plin. N. H. VIII. xvii. ‘[Leones] quos pardi generavere.’]
1. A large carnivorous quadruped, Felis pardus, otherwise called the Panther, a native of Africa and southern Asia. Its coat is yellowish fawn shading to white under the body, with dark brown or black rosette-like spots. (In popular language, the name is often restricted to the smaller varieties of the species, the larger being called panthers.)
Black leopard, a black-coated variety of the leopard, formerly regarded as a distinct species, found in Southern India and the Malay peninsula, Java, etc.
α. 13[?]. Coer de L., 2182. Then answered Kyng Richard, In deed lyon, in thought libbard.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 13795. Was neuere lubard ne lyoun … þat was so wod.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Monk’s T., 271. Leons, leopardes [v.r. lebardis, luperdes] and Beres.
a. 1400. Isumbras, 189. A labarde ther com and tuk that othir.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 291/2. Labbarde (K., S., P. lebbard), leopardus.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., I. lx. 246 (Harl. MS.). A litle Ile, fulle of liounes, leberdes, berys, and oþere wylde bestes.
1531. Elyot, Gov., I. xviii. In the vacation season from warres they hunted lions, liberdes, and suche other bestis.
a. 1599. Spenser, F. Q., VII. vii. 29. He in forrest greene Had hunted late the Libbard or the Bore.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, VI. i. 466. The Libard is not hurtfull to men except they annoy him: but killeth and eateth Dogges.
1635. Swan, Spec. M. (1670), 396. There is no Leopard or Libbard but such as is begotten between the Lion and the Panther, or the Panther and the Lioness.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 773. The lion, and the libbard, and the bear, Graze with the fearless flocks.
1820. Keats, Lamia, II. 185. Twelve sphered tables … rear’d On libbard’s paws.
β. a. 1290. S. Eustace, 410, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 219. Liouns and leuparz … And bestes suiþe fel[l]e.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11638. Moder, he said, haf þou na ward, Noþer o leon ne o lepard [Gött. lippard].
1340. Ayenb., 14. Vor þet bodi of þe beste wes ase lipard.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1328. Aboute this kyng ther ran on euery part ful many a tame leon and leopard.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 159. Camelion is … in colour liche to a lupard.
c. 1430. Lydg., Reas. & Sens. (E.E.T.S.), 3294. I wot … thou woldest twynne And fle from hir … As doth an hare the lyppart.
c. 1450. Merlin, 304. In that londe is the wolf that the lupart shall bynde.
1481. Caxton, Reynard (Arb.), 52. Tho spak sir firapeel the lupaerd whiche was sybbe somwhat to the kynge. Ibid. (1483), Gold. Leg., 416/1. There was a lyeparte there aboutes whiche destroyed the people of the contre.
1535. Coverdale, Ecclus. xxviii. 23. It shal … deuoure them as a leparde.
1635. Swan, Spec. M., ix. § 1 (1643), 435. The Panther is a beast little differing from a Leopard or Lippard.
γ. 13[?]. K. Alis., 5228. Vnces grete, and leopardes.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 93. Ac þere ne was lyoun ne leopart þat on laundes wenten … Þat ne fel to her feet.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xxii. (1495), 781. The Leoperde drynkith mylke of the wylde gote.
c. 1450. Merlin, 304. Is not the leopart more of strength than is the wolf.
1535. Coverdale, Prov. xxvi. 13. The slouthfull sayeth: there is a leoparde in ye waye.
1607. Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 343. Wert thou a Leopard, thou wert Germane to the Lion, and the spottes of thy Kindred, were Iurors on thy life.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 918. The lively shining leopard speckled o’er With many a spot, the beauty of the waste.
1834. Pringle, Afr. Sk., viii. 246. The South-African leopard differs from the panther … in the form of its spots.
b. Applied to other animals of the genus Felis, as American Leopard, the jaguar, F. onca; Hunting Leopard, the cheetah (see HUNTING vbl. sb. 3 b); Snow Leopard, the ounce, F. irbis.
2. With reference to its spotted coat, as a type of unchangeableness, after Jer. xii. 23.
1382. Wyclif, Pref. Ep. St. Jerome, vii. 71/1. [Mentions Jeremiah’s allusion to] the leparde spuylide his colours.
1560. Bible (Genev.), Jer. xiii. 33. Can the blacke More change his skin? or the leopard his spottes?
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., I. i. 174. Lyons make Leopards tame. Mo. Yea, but not change his spots.
1634. F. White, Repl. Fisher, 573. They haue washed off their Libbards spots.
1631. Brathwait, Eng. Gentlew. (1641), 308. The Blackmoore may sooner change his skin, the Leopard his spots.
3. A figure of a leopard in painting, heraldry, etc.
13[?]. Coer de L., 5121. Many wer the fayre geste Theron were wryten, and wylde beste, Tygrys, dragons, leons, lupard.
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 894. With briddes, lybardes, & lyouns, And othir beastis wrought ful welle.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1573. And all of marbill was made with meruellus bestes, or lions & Libardes & other laithe wormes.
1523. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 590. Wheron stood a lybbard crownyd with golde and stones.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 551. With Libbards head on knee.
b. Anc. Her. A lion passant guardant [F. lion léopardé], as in the Arms of England.
[c. 1300. Siege of Carlaverock (Nicolas, 1828), 22. En sa baniere trois luparte.]
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 305. Þei sauh kynge’s banere, raumpand þre lebardes.
1475. Bk. Noblesse, 24. The said King Henry the seconde bare in armes frome that day forthe the saide libarde of gold withe the other two libardis of the same that is borne for Duke of Normandie.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. ccii. [cxcviii.] 623. He lefte the beryng of the Armes of Englande, or the lybardes, and four delyces quarterly.
1614. Selden, Titles Hon. In royal blazonry leopards and lions were synonymous terms, and used indifferently.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, VI. xxxv. Though ne’er the leopards on thy shield Retreated from so sad a field, Since Norman William came.
c. A gold coin, having on the obverse a lion passant guardant, struck by Edward III., c. 1344, and by the Black Prince, for circulation in France.
In the proclamation authorizing its issue 18 Edw. III., it is called ‘a gold coin with one leopard,’ and is stated to be of the value of a florin of Florence. A coin called leopardus auri is mentioned in a monastic document of Bordeaux dated by Du Cange a. 1305; but the date may be an error.
† d. The leopard’s (i.e., lion’s) head seems to have been used as an assay-mark for silver. Obs.
1423. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 257/1. That no Goldsmyth … nor other Man that worketh Selver Hernois, put noon therof to the sale … or that it be touched wyth the touche of the Liberdisheed.
† 4. The fur of the leopard. Obs.
1490. Will of Peytor (Somerset Ho.). Gown … furred wt lybbards.
1505. Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. (1901), III. 249. It [ane cote] was lynyt with leopardis.
† b. ? quasi-adj. = leopard skin.
1772. Town & Country Mag., 71/1. His taylor breakfasts with him … in order to consult about the cut of his next coat, or the trimming of his next leopard sourtout.
5. Sea leopard = leopard-seal: see SEA.
6. attrib. and Comb., as leopard skin, whelp; leopard-colo(u)red, -like adjs.; leopard man, one who has charge of a leopard.
1611. Cotgr., Leopardé, *libbard-like.
1647. Ward, Simp. Cobler, 5. The Religion of that place was but motly and meagre, their affections Leopard-like.
1390–1. Earl Derby’s Exped. (Camden), 257. Item pro lecto, vino, candelis et pro aliis expensis, per le *libardman ibidem, j scut.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 113. Coates of the Turkes fashion, of *Libard skinnes.
1739. Will, in Payne, Eng. Cath. (1889), 55. My leopard-skin saddle trimmed with gold fringe.
1884. Symonds, Shaks. Predecessors, vii. § 3. 262. She … led lyric poetry, like a tamed *leopard-whelp, at chariot-wheels of her fantastic progress.
b. in the names of animals, etc., spotted or marked like the leopard, as leopard cat, (a) the African wild cat, Felis Serval; (b) the wild cat of India and the Malay Archipelago, F. bengalensis; (c) the American ocelot, F. pardalis; leopard-mackerel, a scombrid fish, Scomber leopardus Shaw, Cybium interruptum Cuv., common in India; leopard moth, a collector’s name for a large white black-spotted moth, Zeuzera æsculi or Z. pyrina; leopard-seal, -shell (see quots.); leopard-tortoise, Testudo pardalis; leopard wood, the wood of a S. American tree, Brosimum Aubletii.
1773. Gentl. Mag., XLIII. 219. The *Leopard Cat.
1863. Speke, Discov. Nile, 273. A … young man, who had the skin of a leopard-cat … tied round his neck.
1884. Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888), V. 459. The Leopard Cat (Felis bengalensis) is either very variable in color and markings, or there are, as enumerated by Dr. Gray, four or five distinct species.
1862. Beveridge, Hist. India, I. Introd. 12. The *leopard-mackerel and the mango fish.
1819. G. Samouelle, Entomol. Compend., 246. Zeuzera Æsculi (wood *leopard-moth).
1870. J. R. S. Clifford, in Eng. Mech., 21 Jan., 449/3. A memorable wood-boring … caterpillar is that of the Leopard Moth (Zeuzera Æsculi).
1894. Royal Nat. Hist. (ed. Lydekker) II. 142. The *leopard seal (Ogmorhinus leptonyx) may be taken as the best known representative of four genera confined to the Southern and Antarctic Seas…. The leopard-seal or, as it is often called, the sea-leopard.
1711. Phil. Trans., XXVII. 350. A neat Rhombus, spotted with black and white, call’d therefore by some the *Leopard Shell.
1880. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 252. The Ethiopian region of natural history has the greatest number of species of Tortoises, and the *Leopard Tortoise (Testudo pardalis),… and the little Geometric Tortoise are familiar examples.
1859. Handbk. Turning, 41. Partridge and *leopard woods.
