Chime"ra (?), n.; pl. Chimeras (#). [L. chimaera a chimera (in sense 1), Gr. a she-goat, a chimera, fr. he-goat; cf. Icel. qymbr a yearling ewe.]
1. Myth.
A monster represented as vomiting flames, and as having the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon.
"Dire
chimeras and enchanted isles."
Milton.
2.
A vain, foolish, or incongruous fancy, or creature of the imagination; as, the chimera of an author.
Burke.
© Webster 1913.