taipan

plural taipans

1. Any venomous elapid snake of the genus Oxyuranus, found in Australia and New Guinea.First known use 20th c.

plural taipans · alternative taepan · alternative tai-pan · alternative typan

1. A foreign businessman in China; a tycoon.First known use 19th c.

   The British taipans stood in one sodden circle with their womenfolk, like bored officers at a garrison get-together.

   1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 438

   1 more example

   Of course it was very sad, but the taipan could hardly help a smile when he thought how many of these young fellows he had drunk underground.

   1922, W. Somerset Maugham, The Taipan

2. PhilippinesA tycoon (usually of Chinese Filipino background)