tiger 
the two largest living cats (the other being 
the lion), of the family Fclidee. The tiger is 
beautifully striped with black and tawny yellow ; it has 
no mane. The female, when distinguished, is called ti- 
gress. The tiger inhabits southern Asia and some of the 
larger islands belonging to that continent, having there 
the same position that the lion has in Africa. The tiger 
attains his full development in India, the name Bengal 
tiger being used as synonymous with those specimens 
which appear as the most typical and most powerful rep- 
resentatives of the species. In habits the tiger is far more 
active and agile than the lion, and exhibits a large amount 
of fierce cunning. He generally selects as his lair a con- 
cealed spot near a watercourse, whence to spring upon 
the animals that approach to drink. His tread through 
the thick jungle is stealthy, and he appears to avoid rather 
than court danger, unless when brought to bay, when he 
turns an appalling front to the foe. Tigers do not gener- 
ally attack man, but in some cases they seem to acquire 
a special liking for human prey, and boldly approach vil- 
lages for the purpose of securing it ; such are known as 
man-eaters (see man-eater, 2). In some districts the loss 
of human life is enough to become a matter of official 
statistics. The natives destroy them by traps, pits, poi- 
soned arrows, and other means. Tiger-hunting is a favor- 
ite Indian sport. It is pursued generally by Europeans, 
the tiger being shot from the back of an elephant. When 
taken young the tiger can be tamed, arid tigers thus do- 
mesticated are not rarely to be seen in India. 
2. Thethylacinedasyure, or tiger-wolf: so called 
from the stripes. See thylacine (with cut). 3. 
A person of a fierce, bloodthirsty disposition. 
4. A dissolute swaggering dandy; a ruffling 
blade; a swaggerer; a hector; a bully; a mo- 
hawk. 
" A man may have a very good coat-of-arms, and be a 
tiger, my boy," the Major said, chipping his egg : "that 
man is a tiger, mark my word a low man." 
Thackeray, Pendennis, xx. 
5. [Humorously compared to a tiger in a show- 
wagon driven about the streets in parade.] A 
groom who goes out with the equipage of his 
master that is, with the dog-cart, curricle, 
cab, or other vehicle driven by the master 
himself, his duty being to take care of the 
equipage when the master has left the box. 
His tiger, Tim, was clean of limb, 
His boots were polished, his jacket was trim. 
With a very smart tie in his smart cravat, 
And a little cockade on the top of his hat, 
Tallest of boys or shortest of men, 
He stood in his stockings just four feet ten. 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 283. 
6. [Appar. so called as being " an ornamental 
addition" : in allusion to the tiger or groom (def . 
5) who sits as if a mere ornament in the vehicle 
which his master drives.] An additional cheer; 
"one more" (often the word tiger): as, three 
cheers and a tiger. [Colloq.J 7. In sugar- 
manuf., a tank with aperf orated bottom, through 
which the molasses escapes. E. H. Knight. 
8. A bug of the family Tingitidse : translating 
the French name. 9f. A fabulous bird. See 
the extract. 
Yet ben there other byrdes the whyche ben called T?/- 
gris, and they be so stronge that they wyll here or cary in 
theyr neste a man sytting vpon an horse all armyd fro the 
hede to ye fote. 
7J. Eden (B'irst Books on America, ed. Arber, p. xxxii.). 
American tiger, the jaguar, Felis onca. See cut under 
jaguar. Bengal tiger. See def. 1. Black tiger, a me- 
lanistic variety of the jaguar. Clouded tiger, the cloud- 
ed tiger-cat. See tiger-cat. Heraldic tiger, in her., an 
imaginary beast unlike a real tiger and more of the shape 
of a wolf except for having a tufted tail like a lion's. It 
should always be blazoned heraldic tiger to distinguish it 
from the real creature, which is sometimes depicted in re- 
cent heraldry. - Marbled tiger, the marbled tiger-cat. 
See marbled. Mexican tiger, the jaguar. Red tiger, 
the cougar. See cut under cwtyar. Royal Bengal tiger, 
the common tiger, Felistigris. Seedef. 1. Saber- tOOth- 
edtiger, amachserodont; one of the great fossil cats with 
enormous upper canines, belonging to the subfamily Ma- 
chserodontinee. See Machserodmitinie, and cut under saber- 
toothed. Tiger natural, in her., a bearing resembling the 
real tiger more or less closely : so called to distinguish it 
from the heraldic tiger. Tiger swallowtail. See mial- 
lowtml. To buck or fight the tiger. See fight. Tor- 
toise-shell tiger, the clouded tiger-cat. See cut under 
tvjer-cat. Water- tiger, a predaceous water-beetle of the 
family Dytistidee : so called from their habits. See Hydra- 
dephaga, and cut under Dytiscidte. 
tigerantict (tl-ge-ran'tik), a. [< tiger + -an- 
tic, a capricious addition, prob. in simulation of 
elephantic.] Eavenous. 
[Rare.] 
In what sheep's-head ordi- 
nary have you chew'd away 
the meridian of your tyger- 
antic stomach? 
Tom Brown, Works, II. 179. 
KDavies.) 
tiger-beetle (ti'ger- 
be'tl), it. Any beetle 
of the family Cicin- 
delidse: so called from 
its active predaceous 
habits. See also cuts 
under AmMycMla and 
Cicindfla. 
6334 
tiger-bittern (ti'ger-bit"ern), n. A South 
American bird of the heron family and genus 
Tigrisoma, of which there are several species : 
so called from the markings of the plumage. 
See cut under Tigrisoma. 
tiger-cat (ti'ger-kat), . 1. One of several 
streaked or spotted cats of the family Felidee 
tight 
It is only from the attic that you can appreciate the 
picturesque which belongs to our domesticated tvjerkin. 
The goat should be seen on the Alps, and the cat on the 
housetop. Bulwer, Caxtons, xiv. 2. 
tiger-lily (tl'ger-lil"i), n. A common garden 
lily, Lilium tigrinum, native in China, bearing 
nodding flowers with a reflexed perianth of a 
dull-orange color spotted with black (whence 
the name). It produces bulblets in the axils of 
the leaves. Its bulbs are used for food in China 
and Japan. 
tiger-moth (ti'ger-m6th), . A moth of the 
family Arctiidee, as Euprepia caja and E. planta- 
f/inis, whose larvae are known as bear-caterpil- 
lars and woolly bears. Arclia imbella is the isabella 
Clouded Tiger-cat (Fflis macrosfelis). 
and genus Felis : so called from their resem- 
blance to the tiger in markings or in ferocity, 
though they are all much smaller, and range 
down to the size of a large house-cat. These cats 
are numerous in both hemispheres, and the name has no 
specific meaning without a qualifying term. The clouded 
tiger-cat, F. macroscelis, of the East Indies is perhaps the 
largest and handsomest. The American ocelot is a tiger- 
cat, and others have their distinctive names, as ehati, ser- 
val, and margay. See these words, and cuts under serval 
and ocelot. 
2. A mongrel or hybrid between the wildcat of 
Europe (F. catus) and the domestic cat Long- 
tailed tiger-cat, FeKs macrurus of Brazil, closely resem- 
bling the ocelot, and sometimes called oceloid leopard. 
Marbled tiger-cat. See marbled. 
tiger-chop (tl'ger-chop), n. A species of fig- 
marigold, Mesembryanthemmn tigrinum. 
tiger-cowry (ti'g6r-kou"ri), . A tiger-shell; 
a kind of cowry with large spots, Cyprsea tigris. 
See cut under Cyprsea. 
tiger-eye (tl'ger-i), n. Same as tiger's-eye. 
tiger-flower (trger-flou"er), n. A plant of the 
genus Tigridia : so named from the variegation 
of the flower. The ordinary species is T. pavonia, one 
of the most showy of garden flowers, having a perianth 
six inches broad, colored a brilliant scarlet with copious 
crimson spots toward the dark center. The flower is of a 
triangular form, the three inner divisions of the perianth 
being much smaller than the three outer. Each flower 
lasts only a day, but there is a quick succession for six or 
eight weeks. There are several varieties, including the 
yellow and the white tigridias. From its native land some- 
times called Mexican tiger-flower. Also tiger-iris. 
tiger-footed (ti'ger-fut'ed), a. Swift as a ti- 
ger; hastening to devour. [Rare.] 
This tiger-footed rage, when it shall find 
The harm of unscann'd swiftness, will too late 
Tie leaden pounds to 's heels. Shak., Cor., Hi. 1. 312. 
tiger-frog (ti'ger-frog), n. Same as leopard- 
frog. 
tiger-grass (ti'ger-gras), n. A dwarf fan-palm, 
Xannorhops Sitchieaita, of western India, ex- 
tending into Persia: put by the natives to a 
great variety of uses. It was formerly classed with 
Chamterops, from which it chiefly differs by its valvate 
instead of imbricate petals or corolla-segments. 
tigerine (ti'ger-in), a. [< tiger + -<?!.] See 
tigrine. 
tigerish (ti'ger-ish), a. [Also tigrish; < tiger + 
-isA 1 .] Of, pertaining to, or resembling a tiger 
in appearance, nature, or habits, (a) Fierce, blood- 
thirsty, or cruel. 
Let this thought thy tigrish courage pass. 
Sir P. Sidney, Astrophel and Stella. 
(6) Swaggering ; bully-like. Compare tiger, 4. 
Kothing could be more vagrant, devil-me-carish, and, to 
use a slang word, tigrish, than his whole air. 
Buhner, My Novel, vi. 20. 
tigerism (ti'ger-izm), n. [< tiger + -ism.'} 1. 
Tigerish disposition or propensities. 2. Dis- 
solute swaggering habits; especially, an affec- 
tation of such habits. 
In France, where tigerigm used to be the fashion among 
the painters, I make no doubt Carmine would have let his 
beard and wig grow, and looked the fiercest of the fierce. 
Thackeray, Character Sketches, The Artists. 
tigerkin (ti'ger-kin), ti. [< tiger + -kin.] A 
little tiger or tiger-cat : used humorously of the 
domestic cat. 
Isabella Tiger-moth (Arctia Isabella), 
a, larva : *, cocoon and chrysalis ; c , moth. 
tiger-moth. Deiopsea bella is a common tiger-moth in the 
United States. See also cuts under bear% t Euprepia, and 
Utethewa. 
tiger's-claw (ti'gerz-kla), n. Same as baag- 
nouk. 
tiger's-eye (ti'gerz-I), n. An ornamental stone 
of a yellow color, with brilliant, chatoyant, or 
opalescent reflections due to its delicate fibrous 
structure. It consists essentially of quartz colored by 
yellow iron oxid the latter produced by the alteration of 
fibers of the blue mineral crocidolite, which originally 
penetrated the quartz ; hence often, though improperly, 
called crocidolite. It has been obtained in large quantities 
in the Asbestos Mountains in South Africa. Also tiger-eye. 
tiger's-foot (ti'gerz-fut), n. A twining plant, 
Ipomsea Pes-tigridis, with pedatelylobed leaves, 
widely diffused through the Old World tropics. 
tiger-shark (ti'ger-shark), n. A large and vo- 
racious shark, Galeocerdo maculatus or Stego- 
stoma tigrinum, more or less marked with yel- 
low, of the wanner parts of the Atlantic and 
Pacific; the zebra-shark. 
tiger-shell (ti'ger-shel), . The tiger-cowry. 
tiger's-milk (ti'gerz-milk), n. The acrid milky 
juice of the euphorbiaceous tree Exccecaria 
Agallocha, found from India to Polynesia. The 
sap is extremely volatile, and affects the eyes, 
throat, etc., in gathering. It is used to cure 
ulcers. 
tiger-wolf (tl'ger-wulf), n. 1. The spotted 
hyena, Croatia maculata. See cut under hyena. 
2. The thylacine dasyure, Thylacinns cyno- 
fephalus. See cut under thylacine. 
tiger-wood (ti'ger-wud), . 1. A wood im- 
ported from British Guiana, and used by cabi- 
net-makers: same as itaka-wood. 2. A va- 
riety of citron-wood. 
tight,". A close; aninclosure; a croft. E.Phil- 
lips, 1706. 
tight 1 (tit), a. [< ME. tight, tiht, tigt (also 
rarely toght, > E. taught, taut), a var. (with in- 
itial t for th due to assimilation with the final 
/, perhaps after the Sw. Dan. forms) of "thiglit, 
t/iilit, > E. dial, thite, prop, spelled "tliiglit, also 
iheat (after Icel. thettrl), < AS. "thiht (not 
found) = MD. digit t, D. digt = MHG. diltte, G. 
rlicht, dial, deicht, thick, solid, dense, = Icel. 
tltettr = Sw. tiit = Dan. tset = Goth. *tliei!its 
(not recorded), tight, close, compact; appar. 
with oi-ig. pp. suffix -t (as in Uglifi, a.); per- 
haps akin to thick.] 1. Close or closely com- 
pacted ill texture or structure. () So firmly com- 
