The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hippogriff \Hip"po*griff\, n. [F. hippogriffe; cf. It.
ippogrifo. See Hippopotamus, Griffon.] (Myth.)
A fabulous winged animal, half horse and half griffin.
--Milton.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. a mythical beast, half griffin and half horse, supposedly the offspring of a griffin and a filly.
Wikipedia
The hippogriff, or sometimes hippogryph is a legendary creature which has the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse.
The first recorded mention of the hippogriff was made by the Latin poet Virgil in his Eclogues. Though sometimes depicted during the Classical Era and during the rule of the Merovingians, it was used by Ludovico Ariosto in his Orlando Furioso, at the beginning of the 16th century. Within the poem, the hippogriff is a steed born of a mare and a griffin—it is extremely fast and is presented as being able to fly around the world and to the Moon. It is ridden by magicians and the wandering knight Ruggiero, who, from the creature’s back, frees the beautiful Angelica.
Sometimes depicted on heraldic coats of arms, the hippogriff became a subject of visual art in the 19th century, when it was often drawn by Gustave Doré.
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The word Hippogriff, also spelled Hippogryph and Hippogryphe is derived from the Ancient Greek ἵππος /híppos, meaning “horse,” and the Italian grifo meaning “ griffin” (from Latin gryp or gryphus), which denotes another mythical creature, with the head of an eagle and body of a lion, that is purported to be the father of the hippogriff. The word hippogriff was adopted into English shortly before 1615.
Usage examples of "hippogriff".
And you know a hippogriff is a cross between a horse and a griffin, right?
Harry recognized the hippogriff immediately, and wished he was able to speak in his griffin form.
Harry helped Ron get Jim Edmundson back to the plateau, Hermione leading the docile Elliott and trying to explain to him that they were going to ride a hippogriff now.
Ron put his feet in the stirrups and picked up the reins now, preparing to take off, while Harry turned to Hermione and her charge so that he could hold their hippogriff for them, as he had for Ron.
Astriphie was no ordinary steed, but a hippogriff, with the forequarters an enormous bird and the hindquarters a sturdy horse, the juncture between the two marked by a pair of golden-feathered wings.
The stableboy ran to the fence to watch as the pair trotted, then galloped down the road, until at last, with a muscular heave of its great wings, the hippogriff lifted from the earth and sailed away over the top of the brown-leafed forest.
Here Martine nosed Astriphie northward and piloted the hippogriff over the stormy waters of the Moonsea until they sighted the northern coast, where they rested in a village of fishermen too poor to be suspicious of such a strange traveling pair.
With a quick series of whistles and a hard pull on the reins, the ranger swung the hippogriff in a broad loop that came to bear straight toward the smoke.
The hippogriff plunged toward the nearest clearing, a smooth meadow along the banks of a stream.
The hippogriff was crouched in bloodstained snow, tearing at the carcass of a deer, forcing the ranger to wait until the meal was done.
Finally she was able to remount the hippogriff safely and fly to the cabin.
With a rekindled confidence that she could end this quickly, Martine leaned the hippogriff in a broad arc that would carry them toward the plume.
With a firm command, she pushed the hippogriff, its normally keen eyes now flashing with fire, closer and closer.
Just as the hippogriff slipped into a steep-banked turn, the geyser spewed forth another shuddering blast.
The imaginary parabola collapsed as the rushing wind seemed to roll the crippled hippogriff completely over.