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bestiary

[bes-chee-er-ee, bees-]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bestiary ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural bes·ti·ar·ies.

a collection of moralized fables, especially as written in the Middle Ages, about actual or mythical animals.

Origin of bestiary

1615–25; < Medieval Latin bēstiārium, neuter of Latin bēstiārius. See beast, -ary

Related formsbes·ti·a·rist

[bes-chee-er-ist, -cher-, bees-] /ˈbɛs tʃi ər ɪst, -tʃər-, ˈbis-/, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bestiary

parable, myth, yarn, fiction, tale, fantasy, legend, hogwash, lie, falsehood, invention, crock, romance, apologue, whopper, fib, figment, untruth, allegory, fabrication

Examples from the Web for bestiary

Historical Examples of bestiary

The author of the Bestiary was acquainted with one or both of these.
Selections from Early Middle English 1130-1250: Part II: Notes
Various
This theme is found in the Physiologus, a 256 medieval bestiary.
Modern Spanish Lyrics
Various
For the structure of this verse, see p. 327; the following is a restoration and scansion of the passages in the Bestiary.
Selections from Early Middle English 1130-1250: Part II: Notes
Various
A Bestiary of the beginning of the thirteenth century, enriched with many very curious paintings upon a ground of brilliant gold.
Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867
William Dunn Macray
Bestiary, a name given to a class of books treating of animals, viewed allegorically.
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia
Edited by Rev. James Wood

British Dictionary definitions for bestiary

bestiary

noun plural -aries

a moralizing medieval collection of descriptions (and often illustrations) of real and mythical animals

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bestiary

n.

"medieval treatise on beasts" usually with moralistic overtones, 1818, from Medieval Latin bestiarium "a menagerie," also "a book about animals", from bestia (see beast). A Latin term for such works was liber de bestiis compositus. Roman bestiarius meant "a fighter against beasts in the public entertainments."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper