tiger

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a fierce or audacious person

   he's a tiger on the tennis court

2. 2
   noun

   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.

3. 3
   noun

   A 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.

4. 4
   noun

   A leopard.

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

5. 5
   noun

   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.

6. 6
   noun

   A 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

7. 7
   noun

   A 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.

8. 8
   noun

   A 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.

Etymology

From Middle English tygre, in part from Old English tigras (pl.), in part from Anglo-Norman tigre, both from Latin tigris, from Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris), from Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬙𐬌𐬔𐬭𐬌 (tigri, “arrow”), 𐬙𐬌𐬖𐬭𐬀 (tiγra, “pointed”)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”). Compare English stick.