bestiary

Borrowed from Medieval Latin bēstiārium, from Latin bēstia (“beast, animal”). By surface analysis, beast +‎ -ary.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbiːstiˌɛɹi/, /ˈbɛstiˌɛɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (General American); /ˈbiːstiˌɛɹi/:

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• Audio (General American); /ˈbɛstiˌɛɹi/:

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bestiary (plural bestiaries)

1. A medieval treatise of various real or imaginary animals.
   • 16 Jun 1972, Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, Port Moresby, page 22, column 1:

     Back in the 60s, Robin Boyd told us how ugly Australian architecture was. As his valediction, he has left us a bestiary of ugly Australians.

   • 1982, George Plimpton, A Sports Bestiary, McGraw-Hill Companies, →ISBN:

     This book is not actually a bestiary. It is what most people think a bestiary is—namely an assemblage of vividly imagined beasts who behave somewhat quirkily, bear only the vaguest application to real life, […]

2. A collection of various beasts, depicted in art, literature, or the like.
   • 1 Mar 1996, The Australian Jewish News, Melbourne, page 25, column 3:

     More commonly known to the English speaker as “Genie”; the “dijn” is a powerful demon in the bestiary of the Middle East, mistaken in this instance for the Buddha.

   • 1998, John H. Roger, “Origins of the ancient constellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions”, in Journal of the British Astronomy Association, volume 108, number 1, page 10, column 2:

     Later artworks showed many animals and gods, some of which were clearly identified with heavenly bodies. [...] Each shows a splendidly vivacious bestiary and pantheon, including the Sun-Moon-Venus symbols and a lion-versus-bull combat scene with an eagle or man-bull joining in.

3. (gaming) A list or guidebook of the monsters to be found in a roleplaying game.

• beast
• bestial

• bestiary on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Sybarite, sybarite