leopard

Noun

1. Panthera pardus, a large wild cat with a spotted coat native to Africa and Asia.
   • During all such cases when we were present they responded by giving repeated alarm calls, even when the leopard was already feeding on a carcass. We wanted to determine whether vervets knew enough about the behavior of...
   • The leopard (Panthera pardus or Felis pardus cf tulliana) is a close relative of the lion, but biblical references mentioning it are very few, suggesting that it was not as common. - 1998, Oded Borowski, Every Living...
   • Leopard skins have always been desirable commodities because of their spectacular spotted patterns. - 2005, Richard Ellis, Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn: The Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine, page 197:

   1. (especially) The male of the species P. pardus, in contrast to leopardess.

2. A similar-looking, large wild cat named after the leopard.
   • There are plenty of beautiful cats among the thirty-nine species in the Felidae family, but the three leopards—clouded, common, and snow—may be the most visually stunning. Cloaked in the most beautiful fur of any cat,...

   1. A clouded leopard (either Neofelis nebulosa or Neofelis diardi), a large wild cat native to Asia.

   2. The snow leopard (Panthera uncia), a large wild cat native to Asia.

3. A lion passant guardant.
   • Sometimes there is confusion over the heraldic leopard, the question being—When is a leopard not a leopard? There is a theory that the lion and leopard were the same thing, and that they were named entirely depending on...
4. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Phalanta, having black markings on an orange base.