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.