bestiary
Americannoun
plural
bestiariesnoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bestiary
1615–25; < Medieval Latin bēstiārium, neuter of Latin bēstiārius. See beast, -ary
Explanation
A bestiary is a book from the medieval era with pictures and stories of animals. Bestiaries includes real animals as well as mythical animals such as unicorns. A medieval source of information about animals is a bestiary — a book with descriptions of animals real and imaginary, often with moralizing tales of their exploits. In this respect, bestiaries had a lot in common with fairy tales, which also often end with a moral. Bestiaries often had gorgeous artwork portraying the real and fanciful creatures. If you like reading about centaurs as much as bears, you'd probably enjoy reading a bestiary, which is related to the word beast.
Vocabulary lists containing bestiary
Impossible Creatures
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Ballad and Dagger
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One person who has created comic books whose images were all drawn by AI is New York-based artist Steve Coulson, and his five-part The Bestiary Chronicles.
From BBC • Jan. 10, 2024
In "Mao's Bestiary," however, Chee shows that the roots establishing the use of most animals as ingredients in medicine are not as deeply planted in China's culture as many believe.
From Salon • Jul. 16, 2021
The Aberdeen Bestiary, made circa 1200, is regarded by many scholars the greatest one of all.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 23, 2019
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris Buy it from the Guardian bookshop Search the Guardian bookshop "Work how?" asked a muskrat.
From The Guardian • Oct. 2, 2010
It was—exactly as the Bestiary had said—as large as a cathedral.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
