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hippogriff

[hip-uh-grif]

Origin

noun

a fabulous creature resembling a griffin but having the body and hind parts of a horse.

Also, hip·po·gryph.

Origin:
1645–55; earlier hippogryph, Latinized < Italian ippogrifo. See hippo-, griffin¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To hippogriff

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Hippogriff is always a great word to know.

So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

hippogriff or hippogryph (ˈhɪpəʊˌɡrɪf)

—n
	a monster of Greek mythology with a griffin's head, wings, and claws and a horse's body

[C17: from Italian ippogrifo, from ippo- horse (from Greek hippos) + grifogriffin¹]

hippogryph or hippogryph

—n

[C17: from Italian ippogrifo, from ippo- horse (from Greek hippos) + grifogriffin¹]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

hippogriff

1656, from Fr. hippogriffe (16c.), from It. ippogrifo, from Gk. hippos "horse" + It. grifo, from L.L. gryphus "griffin" (see griffin). A creature part griffin, but with body and hind parts in the form of a horse.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

hippogriff

a legendary animal that has the foreparts of a winged griffin and the body and hindquarters of a horse. The creature was invented by Ludovico Ariosto in his Orlando furioso and was based on a proverbial phrase about crossing a griffin with a horse that was used to signify an impossibility or incongruity.

Learn more about hippogriff with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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"Good writing is always a breaking of the soil, clearing away prejudices, pulling up of sour weeds of crooked thinking, stripping the turf so as to get at what is fertile beneath. It would be amusing to carry the simile further. Those bulbs that flower in the sand and wither! The gay fiction annual that has to be planted again every year! Those experimental plants from Russia, France, and Greenwich Village that are always getting winter killed—confound 'em!—is it worth while planting them again? The stocky perennial that keeps coming up and coming up—so easy to grow and so ugly. Scarlet sage that gives a touch of fiery sin to the edge of the suburbanite's concrete walk! And then the good flowers—as honest as they are beautiful! The well-ordered gar den! The climbing rose that escapes and is the most beautiful of all!"

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hippogriff

hip·po·griff