Lion \Li"on\ (l[imac]"[u^]n), n. [F. lion, L. leo, -onis,
         akin
   to Gr. le`wn. Cf. Chameleon, Dandelion,
         Leopard.]
   1. (Zool.)
         A large carnivorous feline mammal
         (Panthera leo,
   
           formerly Felis leo),
         found in
         Southern Asia and in most
      parts of Africa, distinct
         varieties occurring in the
      different countries. The
         adult male, in most varieties,
      has a thick mane of
         long shaggy hair that adds to his
      apparent size,
         which is less than that of the largest
      tigers. The
         length, however, is sometimes eleven feet to
      the base
         of the tail. The color is a tawny yellow or
      yellowish
         brown; the mane is darker, and the terminal tuft
      of
         the tail is black. In one variety, called the {maneless
   
           lion}, the male has only a slight mane.
      [1913
         Webster]

   2. (Astron.) A sign and a constellation;
         Leo.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. An object of interest
         and curiosity, especially a person
      who is so
         regarded; as, he was quite a lion in London at
      that
         time.
      [1913 Webster]

            Such society was far more enjoyable than that of
            Edinburgh, for here he was not a lion, but a man.
                                                  --Prof.
                                                  Wilson.
     
         [1913 Webster]

   American lion (Zool.), the puma or
         cougar.

   Lion ant
         (Zool.), the ant-lion.

   {Lion
         dog} (Zool.), a fancy dog with a flowing mane, usually
    
          clipped to resemble a lion's mane.

   Lion lizard
         (Zool.), the basilisk.

   Lion's share, all, or nearly
         all; the best or largest part;
      -- from Aesop's fable
         of the lion hunting in company with
      certain smaller
         beasts, and appropriating to himself all
      the
         prey.

   Lion of
         Lucerne, a famous sculptured lion at
         Lucerne,
      Switzerland, designed by Thorwaldsen and
         dedicated in 1821
      as a memorial to the Swiss Guards
         who fell defending Louis
      XVI. in the attack of the
         mob on the Tuileries, Aug. 10,
      1792. The animal,
         which is hewn out of the face of a rock,
      is
         represented as transfixed with a broken spear and
     
         dying, but still trying to protect with its paw a shield
  
            bearing the fleur-de-lis of France.

   {Lion of St.
         Mark}, a winged lion, the emblem of the
      evangelist
         Mark, especially that of bronze surmounting a
      granite
         column in the Piazzetta at Venice, and holding in
      its
         fore paws an open book representing St. Mark's Gospel.
    
          

   Lion of
         the North, Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632),
         King of
      Sweden, the hero of the Protestant faith in
         the Thirty
      Years' War.
      [1913 Webster + Webster
         1913 Suppl.]