bestiary
Americannoun
-
bestiaries
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
A veritable bestiary of nearly 100 sculptures by dozens of artists offers the opportunity to bask in the diverse glory of the animal—and creative—kingdoms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Designer Virginie Viard collaborated again with contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan who used a bestiary in house founder Coco Chanel’s apartment as a creative springboard for the carnival-like spring decor.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2023
The bestiary of acceptable species on which respectable researchers can experiment is expanding.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2022
With terrifying beasts like the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer, Stranger Things has slowly been building up an impressive bestiary of monsters.
From The Verge ● May 28, 2022
The meaning of these stories may be basically the same as the meaning of a medieval bestiary.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Such animals were found in bestiaries, which were illustrated books offering the most popular sources of information about animals, real or imaginary, during the Middle Ages.
From BBC ● Feb. 17, 2024
The cartoonish, sometimes possessed looks of his creatures recall imagery from Japanese mythology and medieval bestiaries.
From New York Times ● Mar. 10, 2021
Medieval bestiaries were books that served as compendiums of creatures both fantastic and real.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2019
She is a magpie, plucking language from myriad arenas: bestiaries, business documents, tourist pamphlets.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 13, 2016
However, a closer examination of Muggle bestiaries of that period demonstrates that most magical beasts either escaped Muggle notice completely or were mistaken for something else.
From "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by J.K. Rowling
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.
