To tip the lion, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Lion, to tip the lion, to squeeze the nose of the party tipped, flat to his face with the thumb.
To put one's head into the lion's mouth, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To put oneself into a desperate position.
As valiant as an essex lion, phr. (old).—As valiant as a calf.—Ray (1767).
Lion-drunk, adj. phr. (old).—See
quot.
1582. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, in Wks. (Grosart), ii. 81-2. Now have we not one or two kinde of drunkards onely, but eight kinde. . . . The second is lion-drunk, and he flings the pots about the house, calls his Hostesse whore, breakes the glasse windows with his dagger, and is apt to quarrele with any man that speaks to him.
Lioness, subs. (common).—1. A
female celebrity; a woman of note.
1825. Scott, St. Ronan's Well, vii. All the lions and lionesses.
1837. Dickens, Pickwick, xv. Mr. Tupman was doing the honours of the lobster salad to several lionesses.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, xli. For the last three months Miss Newcome has been the greatest lioness in London; the reigning beauty.
2. (University).—A lady visitor to Oxford, especially at Commemoration.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, xxv. The notion that any of the fraternity who had any hold on lionesses, particularly if they were pretty, should not use it to the utmost for the benefit of the rest, and the glory and honour of the college, was revolting to the undergraduate mind.
3. (old).—A harlot. For synonyms see Barrack-hack and Tart.
1596. John Davies, Epigrams, 'In Faustum,' xvi. But when he lost his hair where he had been, I doubt me he had seen a lioness.
Lion- (or Leo-) hunter, subs.
(colloquial).—One who runs after
celebrities. [Popularised by Dickens
in the Mrs. Leo Hunter of
Pickwick].
1862. Round Table, 10 Aug. Mr. Alfred Tennyson, fleeing from the bores and leo-hunters, has bought an estate called Greenhill, near Blackdown-Hill, Haslemere.
1878. Athenæum, 19 Jan., p. 81, col. 2. Keats, the obscure medical student, who died before a single lion-hunter had found him out.
1889. Harper's Mag., lxxviii. 417. One of the greatest dangers to all genius is that of being robbed of its vital strength by velvety-pawed lion-hunters.
Lionism, subs. (colloquial).—Attracting
attention as a lion
(q.v.); also, sight-seeing.
1839. Miss Martineau, article 'Literary lionism' in London & Westm. Review of April 1839.
1851. Carlyle, John Sterling, Pt. III. ch. i. Its Puseyisms, Liberalisms, literary Lionisms, or what else the mad hour might be producing.
Lionize, verb. (colloquial).—1. To
go sight-seeing. Also, to play
the lion (q.v.).
1838. Wilberforce, Life, ii. 12. We came on to Oxford, lionized it, and on to Cuddesdon.
1852. Bristed, Five Years, 129. For eight days I had been lionizing Belgium under the disadvantages of continual rain.
2. (colloquial).—To make much of; to treat as a lion (q.v.).
1843. Carlyle, Past & Present, iv. 6. Can he do nothing for his Burns but lionize him?
1860. Caroline Fox, Journal, ii. p. 237. Tennyson hates being lionized.
