tiger

plural tigers · alternative obsolete tigre · alternative dated tyger · alternative dated tygre

1. Panthera tigris, a large predatory mammal of the cat family, indigenous to Asia.

   For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 311

   1. A male tiger; as opposed to a tigress.

      Coordinate term: tigress

2. Other animals that resemble true tigers in appearance, pattern, colouration, etc.
   1. inexactA sabre-toothed tiger (any felid in the subfamily †Machairodontinae).
   2. inexactA Tasmanian tiger, †Thylacinus cynocephalus

      What you mean is that no scientist has captured one and been able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it exists, which is probably very good news for the tiger.

      2010, Barry Jonsberg, Blacky Blasts Back: On the Tail of the Tassie Tiger, Crows Nest, N.S.W: Allen & Unwin, page 43

   3. obsoleteA jaguar.

      Similar is the test among the Moxos of Peru. One of their totems is the tiger; and a candidate for the rank of medicine-man must prove his kinship to the tiger by being bitten by that animal and surviving the bite.

      1887, James George Frazer, Totemism, page 20

   4. A tiger moth in the family Arctiidae.
   5. A tiger beetle.
   6. Any of the three Australian species of black-and-yellow striped dragonflies of the genus Ictinogomphus.
   7. A tiger butterfly in the tribe Danaini, especially subtribe Danaina.
3. governmentA representation of a large mythological cat, used on a coat of arms.

   The heraldic tiger is a mythical beast, quite unlike a real tiger which is described in heraldry as a Bengal tiger. The ordinary tiger has no stripes, has a horn protruding from its nose, has tusks like a boar and a tufted mane, and has a lion's tail instead of a tiger's.

   1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, page 69

4. South Africadated but still usedA leopard.

   Jim remarked irrelevantly that tigers were 'schelms' and it was his conviction that there were a great many in the kloofs round about.

   1907, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, Jock of the Bushveld, Longmans, published 1976, →ISBN, page 251

5. A relatively small country or group of countries with a fast-growing economy.

   In this scenario, the growth rates are higher for the economic tigers than for the other economies.

   2000, Jagdish Handa, Monetary Economics, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 709

   2 more examples

   Then came the 2008 credit turmoil and ensuing economic slump, which not only belittled the huge economic and social gains of the various Baltic and Celtic Tigers, as well as of several former communist nations of Central Europe.

   2009, Fabrizio Tassinari, Why Europe Fears Its Neighbors, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 21

   Once colonial or settler rule ended, such enterprises either lost the crutches of state support or became “white elephants,” draining resources from the wider economy. This was an important factor holding back the emergence of African tigers.

   2014, Emmanuel Akyeampong, Robert H. Bates, Nathan Nunn, James Robinson, Africa's Development in Historical Perspective, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 287

6. obsoleteA servant in livery, who rides with his master or mistress.

   We arranged that I should come here alone in the London coach; and that he, leaving his tiger and cab behind him, should come on , and arrive here as soon as possible this afternoon

   1836, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   The doom of Fate was, Be thou a Dandy! Have thy eye-glasses, opera-glasses, thy Long-Acre cabs with white-breeched tiger, thy yawning impassivities, pococurantisms; fix thyself in Dandyhood, undeliverable; it is thy doom.

   1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. XVII, The Beginnings”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk)

7. USslangA person who is very athletic during sexual intercourse.

   Don't […] Tell your roommate that you heard the walls shaking all night, and it sounds like he's a real tiger in the sack.

   2010, Jeff Wilser, The Maxims of Manhood

8. figurativelyA ferocious, bloodthirsty and audacious person.

   As for that heinous tiger, Tamora, No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds, No mournful bell shall ring her burial; But throw her forth to beasts, and birds of prey.

   c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

9. A pneumatic box or pan used in refining sugar.

plural tigers · alternative obsolete tigre · alternative dated tyger · alternative dated tygre

1. A final shouted phrase, accompanied by a jump or outstretched arms, at the end of a cheer.

   . . . every blue coat in the audience sprang to his feet, with three times three and a tiger.

   1941, Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington

   2 more examples

   He spoke with a very strong Scotch accent, and is by no means a graceful orator, but he produced througout a most favourable impression upon all his hearers, and especially upon the students, one of whom shouted as the speaker closed, 'Long Live PRESIDENT M'COSH!' and then proposed three cheers, which were given with a will, followed by the usual tiger and ' rocket.'

   1868, Punch: Or the London Charivari - Volume 55, page 231

   One Brooklyn military company has a “tiger” composed of a provincial expression borrowed from the farmers. When drawled out by a hundred throats the phrase "I-wanter-know!" always produces a laugh.

   2008, D. C. Beard, The Outdoor Handy Book: For Playground, Field, and Forest, page 413

1. The third of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.
2. A town in Georgia.
3. An unincorporated community in Washington.
4. A popular given name for a pet.

plural Tigers

1. ball gamesSomeone connected with Hull City Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.

1. abbreviationacronymcartographyAcronym of Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing.