From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishRelated topics: Mythologysphinxsphinx, Sphinx /sfɪŋks/ noun [countable]RMan ancientEgyptianimage of a lion with a human head, lying downExamples from the Corpussphinx• Behind them, the hugeugly building crouched like a sphinx, purring through irontonsils.• Phalle made a sphinx, which also served as her home over the several years of work on the project.• Mrs Nina Pender was less a pseud than a sphinx.• Or a monstrousmysterioussphinx, aloof from all that lives.• She sat in the sphinx position, with her eyes closed.• His sometimesenigmaticexpression and behaviour were likened to that of the sphinx in cartoonists' caricatures.• I was surprised, therefore, to find three sphinx caterpillars still feeding on the ashsapling next to the cabin.Sphinx, thethe SphinxSphinx, the1the Great Sphinx a large, very ancient sphinx which is close to the Pyramids of El Giza in Egypt and is visited by many tourists2in Greekmythology, a creature with the head of a woman and the body of a lion. She layoutsideThebes and killed people who could not answer her riddle (=very difficult question). Oedipus answered the riddle, and the Sphinx killed herself.