In the Iliad, a chimera is a grotesque animal jumble, “lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle.”
After the war, chimera was edited by poet Barbara Howes and Ximena de Angulo.
He can not easily believe it to be simply a chimera of an overwrought brain.
The chimera and other animal monsters occur only as figments of the mind.
Ah, that woman in the mask, that chimera of a night, that fancy of an hour!
Do not delude me with a chimera, and above all do not tempt me to sacrifice my honour to it.
For it was evident that to them, this chimera was still real.
A peasant war could at the moment be only a chimera, impossible of realization.
Was it only a chimera of my unbalanced imagination—or was it actual fact?
She seemed unable to describe the chimera of her imagination.
fabulous monster, late 14c., from Old French chimere or directly from Medieval Latin chimera, from Latin Chimaera, from Greek khimaira, name of a mythical creature, slain by Bellerophon, with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail (supposedly personification of snow or winter); literally "year-old she-goat" (masc. khimaros), from kheima "winter season" (see hibernation). Figurative meaning "wild fantasy" first recorded 1580s in English (attested 13c. in French).
Beestis clepid chymeres, that han a part of ech beest, and suche ben not, no but oonly in opynyoun. [Wyclif, "Prologue"]
chimera chi·me·ra (kī-mēr'ə, kĭ-)
n.
One who has received a transplant of genetically and immunologically different tissue.
Twins with two immunologically different types of red blood cells.
A monster in classical mythology who had the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon or serpent.
Note: Figuratively, a “chimera” is a creation of the imagination, especially a wild creation.
