sb. Forms: 1 (pl.) tigras, (-es); 4–7 tygre, 4–8 tigre, 5 tigir, -yr, tygyr, -ur, 5–9 tyger, 6 tygir, Sc. tegir, tegre, 6–7 tigar, 7 tygar, 7– tiger. [ME. a. OF. tigre (c. 1150 in Godef., Compl.), ad. L. tigrem, nom. tigris, whence also rare OE. pl. tigras, -es; Ger., Da., Sw. tiger, Du. tijger, Sp., Pg., It. tigre. L. tigris was a. Gr. τίγρις, a foreign word, evidently oriental, introduced when the beast became known.
(Some have conjectured connection with Zend tīghri arrow, tighra sharp, pointed, in reference to the celerity of its spring; but no application of either word, or any derivative, to the tiger is known in Zend.)]
1. A large carnivorous feline quadruped, Felis tigris, one of the two largest living felines, a cat-like maneless animal, in color tawny yellow with blackish transverse stripes and white belly; widely distributed in Asia, and proverbial for its ferocity and cunning.
Bengal tiger, Royal tiger († tiger royal), the tiger of Bengal, where it attains its typical development.
a. 1000. De rebus in Oriente, in Cockayne, Narrat., 38. Ymb þa stowe beoð … fore hundum tigras & leopardos ꝥ hi fedað.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 492. Twa hreðe deor, þe sind tigres ʓehatene, þær urnon.
13[?]. K. Alis., 5227 (Bodl. MS.). Lyouns, Olyfaunz, Tygres, and dragouns, Vnces grete, and leopardes.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sqr.’s T., 411. Ther nys Tygre [v.r. tigre], ne noon so crueel beest … That nolde han wept.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Auian, xiii. Whan he sawe passe the tygre before the busshe, he shote at hym an arowe.
1581. Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., III. (1586), 124. So monstrous a creature … that it was doubtfull whether she were a woman or a tigar.
1605. Shaks., Macb., III. iv. 101.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., IV. v. 176. A Youth killed a Tigre-Royal…. It was a Tigre of the Biggest and Noblest Kind.
1734. Ipswich Jrnl., 3 Aug., 3/1. Last Friday three young Tigers were whelp’d in the Dens at the Tower: ’Tis is not yet known that that Species of Creatures ever bred in England before.
1777. Robertson, Hist. Amer., I. IV. 260. America gives birth to no creature that equals the lion or tyger in strength and ferocity.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Napoleon, Wks. (Bohn), I. 369. A man of stone and iron … with the speed and spring of a tiger in action.
1882. F. M. Crawford, Mr. Isaacs, x. Crashing through the jungle after tiger with varying success.
2. Applied to other animals of the same genus, as in America to the Jaguar, Felis onca, and the Puma or Cougar, F. concolor (rare); and esp. in South Africa to the Leopard or Panther, F. pardus.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. xv. 166. Vpon the sea shoare the Caymant with his taile gaue great blowes vnto the Tygre.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., IV. v. 177. The lesser sort of Tigres spotted like a Leopard.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. xii. 267. There were great numbers of tygers in the woods [Pacific coast, Mexico] … they are by no means so fierce as the Asiatic or African tyger.
1765. Hartford Courant (dispatch from New-York, 27 June), 1 July, 2/2. We hear from the Fish Kills, that for a week or two past, a Tiger or Panther has been seen in the woods in that neighbourhood, not far from Mr. Depeyster’s house. It had killed several dogs, torn a cow so that she died the same day, and carried off the calf; it likewise carried off a colt of about a week old.
1785. G. Forster, trans. Sparrman’s Voy. Cape G. Hope (1786), II. 252. The animals which I and the colonists in this part of Africa call tygers,… represented in … M. de Buffon’s work, under the denomination of panthers and leopards.
1832. Macgillivray, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., xvi. (1836), 215. When the tigers approached the edge of the forest, a dog which the travellers had began to howl.
1894. E. Eggleston, in Century Mag., April, 849. The panther was long called a ‘tyger’ in the Carolinas.
b. esp. with qualifications.
† American t., Mexican t., the jaguar; black t., a dark variety of (a) the jaguar, (b) the leopard; clouded t., marbled t., tortoisesheil t., species of TIGER-CAT; † poltroon t., † red t., earlier names for the puma; † spotted t., (a) the leopard, (b) the cheetah (also † tiger of chase).
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., II. xiv. 332. The tyger of Bengal has been seen to measure twelve feet in length,… whereas the American tyger seldom exceeds three. Ibid., III. vii. 244. An animal of America, which is usually called the Red Tiger, but Mr. Buffon calls it the Cougar.
1784–5. Ann. Reg., II. 20. His tygers of chase likewise pay him a visit…. These are the spotted tygers.
1790. Bewick, Hist. Quad. (1824), 220. It [the Cougar] is sometimes called the Poltron tiger.
1825. Weddell, Voy. S. Pole, 210. The American tiger, called by the Spaniards jaguar, is often seen on the coast.
1826. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 1176. Panther, or spotted tiger of Buenos Ayres.
1827. Roberts, Voy. Centr. Amer., 95. A species of black tiger will also watch the turtle.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIV. 440/2. The Black Tiger, Felis melas,… is considered as only a dark variety of the Leopard. Ibid., 441/1. The Mexican Tiger of Pennant is said to be a representation of F. macroura.
1863. Bates, Nat. Amazon, xi. (1864), 352. The black-tiger appears to be more abundant than the spotted form of jaguar in the neighbourhood of Ega.
1879. E. P. Wright, Anim. Life, 84. The Clouded Tiger (Felis macrocelis) seems to be of a less mischievous disposition than many of the other cats.
1896. List Anim. Zool. Soc., 56. Felis nebulosa, Clouded Tiger, Hab. Assam.
c. Applied to other than feline beasts.
(a) Tasmanian or Native tiger: names given to the THYLACINE, the striped wolf or zebra-wolf of Tasmania. (b) Sabre-toothed tiger: see SABRE sb. 4 b.
1832. Ross, Hobart Town Almanack, 85 (Morris). During our stay a native tiger or hyena bounded from its lair beneath the rocks.
1879. E. P. Wright, Anim. Life, 217. The Tiger, or Striped Wolf of the colonists (Thylacinus cynocephalus), inhabits Tasmania.
1892. A. Sutherland, Elem. Geog. Brit. Colonies, xiii. 273. The ‘Tasmanian Tiger’ is of the size of a shepherd’s dog, a gaunt yellow creature, with black stripes round the upper part of its body.
† d. Applied (in L. form) to fabulous creatures, beasts or birds: see quots. Obs.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., II. vi. 73. In ynde ben ther other bestes grete and fyrs whiche ben of blew colowr, and haue clere spottes on the body,… and ben named Tygris.
c. 1511. 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.), p. xxxii/2. Byrdes the whyche ben called Tygris, and they be so stronge that they wyll bere or cary in theyr neste a man sytting vpon an horse all armyd fro the hede to ye fote.
3. The figure or representation of a tiger; esp. one used as a badge or crest; hence, popularly applied to an organization or society having this badge; also, a member of such a society;
spec. (Tammany Tiger), the Tammany organization (U.S.).
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 457. He bair grauit in Gold and Gowlis in grene, Ane Tyger ticht to ane tre, ane takin of tene.
1725. Coats, Dict. Her., s.v., The Heads of Tigers are also born in Arms either Couped or Eraz’d.
1871. Harper’s Weekly, 25 Nov., 1099/2. The tiger, symbol of the Americus Club, is used in a manner to produce the effect of a telling retort.
1874. Chamb. Jrnl., 801 (Farmer). The 17th [foot] … the Bengal Tigers, from their badge—a tiger.
1894. Parker’s Gloss. Her., s.v., This beast, as drawn by ancient painters, is now often called the heraldic tiger, as distinguished from the natural.
1871. N. Y. Times, 2 Nov., 4/6. A splendid drawing [in Harper’s Weekly] represents the Tammany tiger rending the Republic to pieces in the arena, while Cæsar TWEED and his followers look on from the gallery.
1901. Scotsman, 7 Nov., 4/3. New York … cannot be worse governed in the future than it has been under the rule of the Tammany Tiger.
1910. Westm. Gaz., 14 March, 14/2 (Hockey). The cup-holders were defeated by the Leicestershire Regiment (the Tigers) by 2–1.
4. transf. and fig. Applied to one who or that which in some way resembles or suggests a tiger. a. A person of fierce, cruel, rapacious, or bloodthirsty disposition; also sometimes, a person of very great activity, strength, or courage.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxxviii. 11. The auld kene tegir, with his teith on char, Quhilk in a wait hes lyne for ws so lang.
1581. Satir. Poems Reform., xliv. 175. Thou hes Blasphemit our prophet, Preist, and heid; O filthie tegre Babylonical!
1585. Thanksgiving, in Liturg. Serv. (1847), 585. To save her [Queen Elizabeth] from the jaws of the cruel Tigers that then sought to suck her blood.
1649. Roberts, Clavis Bibl., 510. Antiochus Epiphanes that cruellest Tyger and Persecutor of the Church.
1806. Fessenden, Democr., l. 77, note. The blood-thirsty tygers of the French revolution.
1893. Baring-Gould, Cheap Jack Z., I. 149. I who have lived in the Fens and among the tigers all my days.
b. Any animal of savage or vicious temper or of great rapacity.
1859. Art of Taming Horses, i. 23. The boasting Mr. —— … was beaten pale and trembling out of the circus by that equine tiger.
1884. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Melbourne Mem., xxi. 153. Many of the others [horses] were ‘regular tigers,’ requiring any horseman who essayed to ride them habitually to be young, valiant, in hard training.
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 211. The right time of the moon for the ‘tigers of the sea’ [sharks] to be about.
1894. Outing (U.S.), Feb., 393/1. I saw one of these sea-tigers [small sharks] glide towards it, and then a sudden splashing struggle began.
c. The tigerish spirit or disposition. Cf. DEVIL sb. 6 a.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Passion & Princ., ix. III. 139. The incalculable quantity of nonsense which the admiring fools talked, had nearly roused the tiger.
1877. Tennyson, Harold, I. i. I trust the kingly touch that cures the evil May serve to charm the tiger out of him.
† 5. A speckled hemipterous insect of the family Tingitidæ, which infests the leaves of pear and other trees. Cf. tiger-babb in 13. [F. tigre, punaise tigre.] Obs.
1706. London & Wise, Retir’d Gard., I. I. xiv. 68. Pear-trees planted in an Espalier, have upon trial been found so subject to Tigers, which creates a sort of Sickness in the Trees.
1729. London & Wise, Compl. Gard., VII. x. 181. Another incurable Distemper is Tigers, which stick to the back of the Leaves of Wall-Pear-Trees, and dry them up, by sucking all the green Matter that was in them.
1725. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. Diseases of Trees, Tigers attack only Wall Pear-trees, and never Dwarfs.
6. A smartly liveried boy acting as groom or footman; formerly often provided with standing-room on a small platform behind the carriage, and a strap to hold on by; less strictly, an outdoor boy-servant. slang. obsolescent.
c. 1817. [see quot. 1880].
1825. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Man of Many Fr., I. 247. ‘Ah!’ said Arden, ‘seven hundred pounds a year, and a tiger!’
1827. Lytton, Pelham, xliv. I sent my cab boy (vulgo Tiger) to inquire [etc.].
1836–7. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Gt. Winglebury Duel. Leaving his tiger and cab behind him.
1842. W. Irving, in Life & Lett. (1886), III. 218. The young gentlemen have made a page, or tiger, of a nephew of Lorenzo.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, xxv. He is the valet or tiger, more or less impudent and acute.
1880. W. H. Husk, in Grove, Dict. Mus., II. 111/2. Lee, Alexander [1802–51],… When a boy he entered the service of Lord Barrymore as ‘tiger,’ being the first of the class of servants known by that name.
† 7. A vulgarly or obtrusively overdressed person; also a sponger, hanger-on, parasite; a roué, rake, swell-mobsman. slang. Obs.
1827. Scott, Jrnl. (1890), I. 367. Our young men … have one capital name for a fellow that outrés and outroars the fashion…. They hold him a vulgarian and call him a tiger.
1837. T. Hook, Jack Brag, i. Every well dressed woman … whom he happened to see with the tigers in whose set he mingled.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, xix. ‘A man may have a very good coat-of-arms, and be a tiger,’ the Major said…, ‘that man is a tiger, mark my word—a low man.’
b. (See quot.) slang.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 29 Aug., 8/1. The convict wears a dull yellow cap…. The thick rough jacket and trousers are of the same yellowish hue…. A favourite form of insubordination is to tear to pieces these yellow suits, the punishment for which is that the ‘tiger’ appears in the quarry next day arrayed in board-like black canvas.
8. U.S. slang. A shriek or howl (often the word ‘tiger’) terminating a prolonged and enthusiastic cheer; a prolongation, finishing touch, final burst.
1856. Knickerb. Mag., XLVIII. 258 (Thornton). Terrific cheers and a tiger.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), s.v., In 1826 the [Boston Light] Infantry visited New York…, and while there the Tigers at a public festival awoke the echoes … by giving the genuine howl…. Gradually it became adopted on all festive and joyous occasions, and now ‘three cheers and a tiger’ are the inseparable demonstrations of approbation in that city [New York].
1869. R. F. Burton, Highl. Brazil, I. 239. When the ceremony ends, the scamp of the party … proposes three cheers and a tiger for Mr. Gordon.
1880. Daily Tel., 8 Oct. ‘Three cheers’ in properly hearty unison, without the hysterical American supplement of ‘tigers.’
1892. Sat. Rev., 31 Dec., 759/1. The new festival … introduced as a sort of ‘tiger’ to these three days of cheer.
1904. N. China Herald, 27 May, 1119/1. All the guests rising and singing…, giving three times three cheers, followed by a vigorous ‘Tiger.’
9. a. The game of faro. To buck or fight the tiger, at faro or roulette, to play against the bank; also, less strictly, to gamble, play cards. U.S. slang.
1851. Adv. Simon Suggs, iv. (Thornton, Amer. Gloss.), (heading) Simon starts forth to fight the Tiger.
1852. Knickerb. Mag., XL. 317 (ibid.). Such is ‘the tiger,’ as the faro-table is called at the Springs: why, I never could learn.
1863. Rocky Mountain News, 29 Jan. (ibid.). Bucking the tiger, which we wouldn’t advise any one to do.
1888. Daily Inter-Ocean (Chicago) 14 Feb. (Farmer, Amer.). More than one unsuspecting wife will have her eyes opened to the fact that the wicked tiger, and not legitimate business has been detaining her husband out so late at night.
b. A hand at poker: see quots.
1889. Guerndale, Poker Bk., 23. Tiger. This hand is, fortunately, very seldom played. It consists of the lowest possible combination of five cards; these are two, three, four, five, and seven.
1909. Cent. Dict. Supp., Tiger, in poker, a hand which is seven high and deuce low, without a pair, sequence, or flush.
c. Blind tiger, an establishment at which intoxicating drinks are surreptitiously sold (U.S.).
1892. Evening Echo, 30 June, 1/7. The proprietor of a ‘blind tiger’ (an illicit drinking place) in Lancaster, a … town of Kentucky, has been fined in 577 cases.
10. As a name for various implements: see quots.
1864. Webster, Tiger,… a pneumatic box or pan used in sugar-refining.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Tiger (Sugar), a tank having a perforated bottom, through which the molasses escapes.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Tiger. See Nipping-fork. A tool for supporting a column of bore-rods while raising or lowering them.
11. Short for tiger-moth, -shark, -snake, -wolf, etc.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVII. 714/1. Squalus, Shark…. 5. Tigrinus, or tigre, is about 15 feet long; the body is … black, interspersed with white stripes and spots, irregularly and transversely.
1819. G. Samouelle, Entomol. Comp., 418. Arctia Caja. The Garden Tyger.
1870. Eng. Mech., 27 Jan., 449/3. One of the handsomest moths belonging to … the ‘Tigers,’ is that called the wood tiger (Chelonia plantaginis).
1895. Westm. Gaz., 14 Sept., 2/3. The traveller in the bush often comes across two ‘tigers’ pegging away at each other for dear life…. Sometimes snakes in captivity are trained to fight, and an owner will occasionally be found to back his “tiger” to fight any snake of his inches in New South Wales.’
1895. Chamb. Jrnl., XII. 645/1. The sharks … are at certain seasons a serious drawback, the tiger more especially.
1902. Scribner’s Mag., XXIX. 455/1. Going out into the garden,… stopping beside the tigers [tiger-lilies] and peonies.
12. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as tiger-cub, -drive, -hunt, -jungle, -pit (PIT sb.1 5), -skin, -spring, -stripe; objective and obj. genitive, as tiger-hunting, -shooting sb. and adj., -slayer.
1800. Misc. Tr., in Asiat. Ann. Reg., 343/1. Jackets, turbans, and handkerchiefs, marked with the bubberee, or tyger stripe…. The tyger stripe was the royal mark, and was peculiar to Tippoo and his family.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxv. He had … ridden a-tiger-hunting upon an elephant with the Nabob of Arcot.
1848. trans. Hoffmeister’s Trav. Ceylon, etc., vii. 244. We remained for several days, on account of a tiger-hunt.
1859. Lang, Wand. India, 358. He had enough of tiger-shooting in that one tiger.
1865. Sir T. Seaton, Fr. Cadet to Colonel, II. 26. There was no tiger-jungle within thirty miles of the spot.
1886. Kipling, Departm. Ditties, etc. (1899), 56. A pet tiger-cub in wreaths of rhubarb leaves, symbolical of India under medical treatment.
1895. Daily News, 27 Nov., 6/3. At Shrovetide, 1509,… Princess Mary, afterwards Queen, wore a black mask as an Ethiopian queen, and a little jacket of tigerskin.
1906. Macm. Mag., Aug., 778. The spears showed that a tiger-drive was contemplated, for across each, some eighteen inches below the point, a little piece of wood was lashed on at right angles to the shaft.
b. passing into adj. ‘tiger-like, tigerish,’ as tiger despair, fury, joy, spasm, thirst; (b) ‘distinguished by or marked with the figure of a tiger (or tiger’s head),’ as tiger gun, soldier.
1800. Chron., in Asiat. Ann. Reg., 150/1. Tippoo’s Tiger grenadiers … are met by a party of the 73d regt. Ibid. A severe conflict is maintained with the leader of the Tiger men by a serjeant of the Highlanders.
1827–39. De Quincey, Murder, Wks. 1862, IV. 64. The impression of his natural tiger character.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIV. 440/1. The tiger soldiers of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib were among the choicest of their troops.
1845. Stocqueler, Handbk. Brit. India (1854), 288. The arsenal, the gate of which is flanked by two of Tippoo’s brass tiger guns, the muzzle representing the open mouth of that animal.
1856. Mrs. H. O’B. Conant, Eng. Bible, xix. (1881), 144. To foster … that tiger thirst for blood.
1885. Tennyson, Anc. Sage in Tiresias, etc., 61. The tiger spasms tear his chest.
1910. Westm. Gaz., 22 March, 5/2. The ideal Othello, played with a perfect mastery of all the modes of expressing tiger fury and tiger despair.
c. parasynthetic, instrumental, similative, etc., as tiger-footed, -hearted, -looking, -marked, -passioned, -proof, -striped adjs. See also TIGER-LIKE.
1597. Beard, Theatre God’s Judgem. (1612), 220. The poore old man thus cruelly handled … departed comfortlesse from his Tygre-minded sonne.
1607. Shaks., Cor., III. i. 312. This Tiger-footed-rage … will (too late) Tye Leaden pounds too’s heeles.
1616. R. Niccols, Overbury’s Vision, in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), III. 350. Such monsters were my tyger-hearted foes.
1752. Sir J. Hill, Hist. Anim., 153. The tyger-spotted Porcellana.
1796. Charlotte Smith, Marchmont, I. 205. This tiger-looking man … was … an Attorney.
1820. Keats, Hyperion, II. 68. Now tiger-passion’d, lion-thoughted, wroth.
1835. J. Duncan, Beetles (Nat. Libr.), 92. The tiger-marked boa, his tail fixed to the trunk of a tree,… lies in ambush on the bank.
1892. Daily News, 7 June, 5/4. Lofty and tiger-proof night shelters for travellers. Ibid. (1896), 13 July, 7/2. Pansies, bronzed, tiger-striped, and deep purple.
13. Special combs.; chiefly names of animals and plants with tiger-like markings: † tiger-babb [? BOB sb.1 9], a parasite infesting the pear tree: = sense 5; tiger-beetle, any species of the family Cicindelidæ, characterized by variegated coloring, activity and voracity; tiger-bird, (a) a South American scansorial barbet: = THICK-HEAD 2 b; (b) = tiger-bittern; tiger-bittern, a South American bittern of the genus Tigrosoma, with striped plumage; tiger-chop, a species of fig-marigold, Mesembryanthemum tigrinum, the toothed leaf of which suggests a ‘chop’ or jaw: cf. cat-chop (CAT sb.1 18); tiger-civet, a name for the LINSANG: see quot.; tiger-cowrie, a white cowrie, Cypræa tigris, with brown spots; tiger-dog, a dog resembling a tiger (cf. sense 2); spec. the spotted carriage-dog; tiger-eye = tiger’s-eye: see b; tiger-finch, a name of the Amadavat, Estrilda amandava; tiger-fish, a large fresh-water fish of South-east Africa; tiger-flower, any plant or species of Tigridia, a genus of tropical American bulbous plants bearing large purple, yellow or white spotted flowers; esp. T. Pavonia (also Peacock or Mexican tiger-flower, tiger-iris, flower of Tigris) with brilliant orange blooms; tiger-foot = tiger’s-foot (see b); tiger-frog, the leopard-frog or shad-frog (Rana halecina or virescens) of N. America; tiger-grass (palm), a dwarf fan-palm, Nannorhops (Chamærops) Ritchieana, of Western India and Persia; tiger-hound: see quot., and cf. tiger-dog; tiger-hunter, one who hunts the tiger; also, a gambler (U.S. slang: cf. sense 9 a); tiger-iris, see tiger-flower; tiger-lily, a tall garden lily, Lilium tigrinum, with bell-like orange flowers marked with black or purplish spots; also called tiger-spotted lily; tiger-mosquito, any striped or banded mosquito of the genus Stegomyia; tiger-moth, a moth of the family Arctiidæ, esp. the British species Arctia caja, a large scarlet and brown moth spotted and streaked with white; tiger-mouth (also tiger’s-mouth), a local name for the Snapdragon, Foxglove and various species of Toad-flax; tiger-nut, the edible rhizome of Cyperus esculentus, used locally as food, and also medicinally; the rush-nut; tiger-owl, the tawny or brown owl; tiger-party, a tiger-shooting party; tiger-python, the Indian python; tiger-salamander, a name for the large western salamander, Amblystoma tigrinum (Cent. Dict. Supp., 1909); tiger-shark, a name for various voracious sharks, as Galeocerdo maculatus of warm seas, Stegostoma tigrinum of the Indian Ocean; in New Zealand, the Porbeagle, Lamna cornubica; tiger-shell = tiger-cowrie; tiger-snake, a venomous Australian snake, Hoplocephalus curtus, so called from its markings; in Tasmania also called carpet-snake; tiger-spider, a large American burrowing spider, Lycosa tigrina, the legs of which are ringed with grey and black; † tiger-stone: see quot.; tiger-swallowtail, a large North American butterfly, having yellow wings striped with black; the turnus; † tiger-table: see quot.; tiger-ware, an old English stoneware with a spotted glaze; tiger-wolf, (a) the Spotted Hyena (Hyæna crocuta); (b) = sense 2 c (a) (Ogilvie, 1882); tiger-wood, a streaked black and brown cabinet-maker’s wood: = ITAKA-WOOD; also, a variety of citron-wood. See also TIGER-CAT.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., I. 81. The Persecution of the *Tyger-babbs [Fr. tigres] keeps the Pears too far off from the Assistance of Wall-trees.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. xxx. 152. That beautiful *tiger-beetle, the Cicindela campestris L., not uncommon on warm sunny banks.
1835. J. Duncan, Beetles (Nat. Libr.), 115. The majority are variegated with spots and streaks of yellow. Their rapacity and agile movements have procured for them the name of Tiger-beetles.
1869. A. R. Wallace, Malay Archip., I. 409. One beautiful group of insects, the tiger-beetles.
1817. Waterton, Wand S. Amer., II. (1825), 136. The small *Tiger-bird…. The throat, and part of the head, are a bright red; the breast and belly have black spots on a yellow ground.
1879. J. G. Wood, Explan. Index, ibid. (1882), 474. The Tiger-Bird utters its cry in the early morning and late in the evening.
1785. Latham, Gen. Synopsis, V. 63. *Tiger Bittern … the plumage deep rufous, marked with black, like the skin of a tiger … inhabits Cayenne, Surinam, and other parts of South America.
1894. Lydekker, Royal Nat. Hist., I. 456. On account of their striking and handsome coloration, the name of *tiger-civets has been suggested for these animals [the Linsangs].
1839. J. Pye Smith, Script. & Geol., 408. A well-known species is on almost every mantel-piece, the *tiger-cowry.
1682. Creech, Lucretius (1683), 90. The *Tyger-dog will flie pursuing Deer.
1883. R. Groom, Great Dane, 8. The name Tiger Dog, as used in Germany, was applied to those specimens with patches and spots of black upon a white ground.
1891. Cent. Dict., *Tiger-eye.
1896. Chester, Dict. Names Min., Tiger-eye, a popular name for a siliceous pseudomorph after crocidolite, in allusion to its yellow-brown colour and chatoyant lustre.
1900. Feathered World, 28 Sept., 399. The common Avadavat is the *Tiger-finch…. Brown and reddish copper, spotted with white.
1893. Selous, Trav. S. E. Africa, 303. Burnett … caught a fine *tiger-fish.
1894. Sat. Rev., 24 Nov., 563/1. In fly-fishing … the chief quarry, the ‘tiger-fish,’ ran to 81/2 lbs., and afforded nearly as good sport as salmon.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XI. 671/2. A beautiful flower called the *tyger-flower, with three red pointed petals, the middle part mixed with white and yellow.
1845–50. Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., 175. The Mexican tiger-flower, genus Tigridia, is a splendid plant of this order [Iridaceæ].
1888. Nicholson’s Dict. Gard., Tigridia, Mexican Tiger Flower; Tiger Iris. This genus includes about seven species of … bulbous plants, from Mexico, Central America, Peru, and Chili…. T. pavonia … Flower of Tigris; Peacock Tiger Flower.
1836. Smart, *Tiger-foot (a plant).
1884. Miller, Plant-n., Palm, *Tiger-grass, Chamærops Ritchieana.
1891. Cent. Dict., Tiger-grass, a dwarf fan-palm, Nannorhops Ritchieana, of western India, extending into Persia.
1880. Lewis & Short, Tigris, II. 2. The name of the spotted *tiger-hound of Actæon.
1896. Lillard, Poker Stories, iii. 87. The unsophisticated young *tiger hunter had something on his mind.
1824. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. (1863), 40. Those fierce and warlike flowers the *tiger-lilies.
1835. Marryat, Olla Podr., v. No one can have an idea how hard the *tiger-musquito can bite.
1816. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxi. (1818), II. 226. The caterpillar of the great *tiger-moth (Bombyx Caja, F.).
1864–5. Wood, Homes without H., xiv. (1868), 286. The well known Tiger Moth whose scarlet, white, and brown robes are so familiar.
1886. Britten & Holland, Eng. Plant-n., *Tiger, or Tiger’s Mouth.
1887. Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 72. The *tiger nut, the tuber of the Cyperus esculentus, is well known in West Africa.
1864. Trevelyan, Compet. Wallah (1866), 133. An account of our *tiger-party in Nepaul.
1784–5. Ann. Reg., 241. The squalus or true *tyger shark,… well known to our seamen in the West Indies.
1898. Morris, Austral Eng., s.v., Shark, Tiger Shark (N.S.W.), Galeocerdo rayneri.… New Zealand…. Tiger Shark, Scymnus spinosus (Maori name, Mako).
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Sugp., *Tiger-shell, the English name of the red voluta, with large white spots.
1874. Beveridge, Loot Life, 50. [He] eyed me as a *tiger snake The bull-frog or the fieldmouse eyes.
1890. Science-Gossip, XXVI. 37/2. The tiger-snake reaches the length of eight, or occasionally even ten feet.
1907. Westm. Gaz., 25 Sept., 12/1. The venom of the tiger-snake is fourteen times more deadly than that of the black snake.
1829. Glover’s Hist. Derby, I. 94. Fluor with barytes, commonly called *tiger-stone, being opaque, and full of dirty brown spots.
1601. Holland, Pliny (1634), I. 395. The wood curleth in and out along the graine, and therefore such bee named Tigrinæ (i. *Tigre-tables).
1731. Medley, Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, II. 108. The Lion, Tiger, and Leopard are bitter enemies to the *Tiger-Wolf.
1838. Penny Cycl., XII. 369/1. The Spotted Hyæna, or Tiger-Wolf of the [South African] colonisis.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Tiger-wood, a valuable wood for cabinet making,… obtained in Guiana.
1866. [see ITAKA-WOOD].
b. Combs. with tiger’s: tiger’s-claw, (a) a weapon for secret attack used by the Mahrattas, consisting of short sharp curved steel blades fixed to a plate or strap which is secured to the palm of the hand; (b) in Mech. a boring or rifling rod in which the cutting tool is automatically sheathed as it enters the bore and expands on the cutting stroke; tiger’s-eye, popular name for (a) a yellowish brown quartz with brilliant luster, used as a gem (also called tiger-eye): see CROCIDOLITE; (b) a crystalline pottery glaze, with auriferous reflections (U.S.); tiger’s-foot, a convolvulaceous plant, Ipomœa Pes-tigridis, common in India, with hairy palmate leaves; tiger’s horn, tiger’s tooth, old names for species of Strombus or wing-shell; tiger’s milk, (a) the acrid white juice of Excœcaria Agallocha, a small euphorbiaceous East Indian tree; (b) gin (slang); tiger’s mouth = tiger-mouth (see 13).
1891. Cent. Dic., *Tiger’s claw, *Tiger’s-eye.
1896. Chester, Dict. Names Min., Tiger’s eye, same as tiger-eye.
1893. E. A. Barber, Pottery & Porcelain U.S., xiii. 290. The highest achievements in glazing are the so-called tiger’s eye and gold-stone, which glisten in the light with a beautiful auriferous sheen.
1828–32. Webster, *Tiger’s foot (citing Lee).
1713. Petiver, Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ, Tab. iv. Strombus … Brown *Tygers Horn.
1850. R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr. (1902), 9/1. A fountain of *tiger’s milk had started in the stern of the waggon.
1886. *Tiger’s Mouth [see tiger-mouth in 13].
1713. Petiver, Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ, Tab. v. Strombus … Thick *Tygers-tooth.
Hence (nonce-wds.) Tiger v. intr., to act, behave, or walk to and fro, like a tiger; † Tigerantic a. [? after elephantic] TIGERISH 1; Tigerette, a diminutive she-tiger, a ‘cat’; Tigerling, a young or diminutive tiger; Tigerocious a. [nonce-wd. after ferocious], = TIGERISH 1.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Lett. fr. Dead, Wks. 1720, II. 216. In what Sheeps-head Ordinary have you chew’d away the meridian Altitude of your Tygerantick Stomach?
1858. Mrs. Gore, Heckington, xxxi. Miss Corbet, on whom the tamed tigerling [a small boy] was now lavishing his endearments.
1874. F. W. Newman, in Davies, Heterodox Lond., II. 311. He is dietetically, neither swinish nor tigerocious.
1898. Ménie Muriel Dowie, Crook of Bough, vii. 52. Disinclined to sit down, he finished his cigar by tigering on the platform, his hands behind him, his head turning from side to side.
1906. Daily Chron., 23 Aug., 5/7. Amongst the tigeresses who devour, and the tigerettes who scheme, you will not find a woman who can claim to have passed through a public school and university training.
