hyena, hyæna
(haɪˈiːnə)
Forms: α. 4 hiene, hyene, -ane, (7 hyen); β. 4–7 hiena, 6– hyæna, hyena, (7 hyenna).
[a. L. hyæna, a. Gr. ὕαινα, app. a feminine (cf. λέαινα), f. ὗς, ὑ- pig. The earlier forms were a. OF. hiene, hyene (mod.F. hyène).]
1. A carnivorous quadruped of a family Hyænidæ allied to the Dog-tribe, though in the skull approaching the Felidæ or Cat-kind; having powerful jaws, neck, and shoulders, but the hind quarters low and comparatively poorly developed.
There are three extant species, the striped hyena (Hyæna striata), inhabiting northern Africa and much of Asia; the brown h. (H. brunnea), and spotted h. or tiger-wolf (H. crocuta) natives of southern Africa. Closely allied to the last was the extinct cave h. (H. spelæa) the remains of which occur in caverns in many parts of the Old World. The name laughing hyena was originally applied to the striped h., but is considered by some to be more appropriate to the spotted h.
| α 1340 Ayenb. 61 Þet is þe felliste best þet me clepeþ hyane, þet ondelfþ þe bodies of dyademen and hise eteþ. c 1398 Chaucer Fortune 35 The nedeth nat the galle of no hyene. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 156, I will laugh like a Hyen, and that when thou art inclin'd to sleepe. |
| β 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. lxi. (W. de W.), Hiena is a cruell beest lyke to the wulfe in deuouryng and gloteny, and diggeth buryels and graues and etith the flesshe of deed bodyes. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Ecclus. xiii. 19 What felowship hathe hyena [marg. Which is a wilde beaste that counterfaiteth the voyce of men, and so entiseth them out of their houses and deuoureth them] with a dogge? 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 488 Hiena is a wilde beast that counterfaiteth the voice of men. 1600 Tourneur Transf. Metamorph. li, At length Malvortio..Heard of the harme wrought by Hyenna's spight. 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), Hyena, or Hyæna, a Wild Beast, which is said to be Male one Year, and Female another, and to counterfeit Humane Voice. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 921 And, scorning all the taming arts of man, The keen hyæna, fellest of the fell. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 194 These two shikkaries told us they had discovered the den of a hyena. 1834 Pringle African Sketches iv. 186 The laughing-hyæna heard near the folds last night. The sound truly horrible. 1881 Encycl. Brit. XII. 421/1 The Striped Hyæna..Its unearthly howling..when the animal is excited, changes into what has been compared to demoniac laughter, and hence the name of ‘laughing hyæna’, by which it is also known. |
2. transf. Applied to a cruel, treacherous, and rapacious person; one that resembles the hyena in some of its repulsive habits.
| 1671 Milton Samson 748 Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts, And arts of every woman false like thee. 1821 Shelley Hellas 403 The base hyenas of the battle That feed upon the dead and fly the living. 1888 J. Inglis Tent Life Tigerland 188 Done to death..by the false oaths and lying testimony of a pack of ruthless human hyenas. |
3. a. A name of the Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger, the most formidable of Australasian animals.
| [1813 Hist. N.S. Wales (1818) 430 (Morris) About Port Dalrymple an animal was discovered which bore some resemblance to the hyena both in shape and fierceness.] 1832 Ross Hobart Town Almanack 85 During our stay a native tiger or hyena bounded from its lair beneath the rocks. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 996 The Thylacine or ‘pouched hyæna’ of the Tasmanian colonists is the largest..carnivorous species of that order..(Marsupialia). |
b. painted hyena = hyena-dog 1.
† 4. A fabulous stone said to be taken from the eye of the hyena; also called hyæneum. Obs.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 339 The skilful Lapidarists of Germany affirm that this beast hath a stone in his eyes (or rather in his head) called Hyæna or Hyænius. 1750 tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 109 Hyena, is a precious Stone and worthy to be preserved. It is denominated from the Beast of its own Name, in whose Eyes it is found. 1855 Smedley Occult Sc. 355 Hyena, a many-coloured stone, taken from the eye of the animal so called. |
† 5. An ancient name for some ravenous fish. Obs.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 435 The like is attributed to a Sea-calf, and the fish Hyæna. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as hyena foeman, hyena laughter; also hyena-like adj.
| 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. lviii, Even his tomb Uptorn, must bear the hyæna bigot's wrong. 1819 ― Juan ii. lxxix, They..Went raging mad..And, with hyæna-laughter, died despairing. 1820 Keats Eve St. Agnes x, Hyena foemen, and hot-blooded lords. 1837 Penny Cycl. IX. 57/1 Dogs with hyæna-like feet. 1840 Hood Up the Rhine 158 After a long hyena-like grin at the receeding object of his aversion. |
Hence, chiefly nonce-wds., hyˈenaish, hyeˈnesque, hyˈenic (-ˈiːnɪk), hyenine (haɪˈiːnaɪn) adjs., like or characteristic of a hyena; hyˈeniform, hyˈenoid adjs., shaped like a hyena, hyena-like; hyˈenaism, action characteristic of a hyena.
| 1833 Blackw. Mag. XXXIV. 464 A hyaena in the fleecy hosiery of a lamb!.. The devil incarnate of hyaenaism in shape! 1884 Ibid. Aug. 210 The evils of political hyenaism. 1868 F. E. Paget Lucretia xxxv. 185 [With a sound] more howling, caterwauling, and hyenaish. 1884–5 Stand. Nat. Hist. V. 435 The hyenine habit of walking or crawling upon wrist and ankle-joints when fighting. 1885 Illustr. Lond. News. Christm. No. 6/3 Laugh, perhaps is the word, unless you interpret it in a hyaenesque sense. 1885 Robertson Smith Kinship & Marr. vii. 203 The Arabs..call certain men hyaenic, and believe that there is an irresistible affinity between them and the hyaena. 1945 G. G. Simpson Princ. Class. & Class. Mammals iii. 224/1 The genera here set aside..are large, later Tertiary canids with heavy jaws, rather distantly convergent toward the hyenas, and so sometimes called ‘hyænoid dogs’. |