man-eatern.
/ˈmanˌiːtə/, U.S. /ˈmænˌidər/ 1. A person who eats human flesh, a cannibal.
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the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eating specific substances or food > [noun] > eating flesh or meat > cannibalism > cannibal
cannibal1541
anthropophagusa1544
anthropophagite1555
Carib1555
men-eater1599
man-eater1600
anthropophaginian1602
Lestrigon1605
anthropophagist1650
anthropophagizer1854
Lestrigoniana1887
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. Introd. 31 They are man-eaters, and couragious in battaile.
a1617 S. Hieron Penance for Sinne in Wks. (1620) II. 103 How foule is the sinne of oppression, when the practisers of it are likened to man-eaters, that liue vpon flesh?
1681 Heraclitus Ridens 9 Aug. 1/1 They may talk of Jews, Turks, Pagans, Infidels, Canibals, Man-eaters, Killcraps.
1705 E. Hickeringill Priest-craft 26 There are Cannibals or Man-eaters.
1743 R. Blair Grave 33 O Great Man-Eater! Whose ev'ry Day is Carnival, not sated yet!
1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. II. iii. 44 A stout ferocious-looking fellow..was pointed out to me as a celebrated marksman and man-eater.
1854 Old Story-Teller, Golden Roebuck 61 The man-eater's mouth watered for human food.
1891 R. Russell Natal 124 Dingaan drove the last of the man-eaters from the Biggarsberg.
1916 E. R. Burroughs Beasts of Tarzan iv. 59 A cannibal! His little boy a savage man-eater! It was too horrible to contemplate.
1981 T. C. Boyle Water Music (1983) i. 143 Two weeks later she was killed and sectioned by a party of maddummulo—man-eaters—while she lay in the bed of a shallow stream buried in mud.
2. † c. colloquial. A horse given to biting. Obsolete.
a. A shark that attacks humans; spec. the great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, or (Australian) the bronze whaler shark, Carcharinus brachyurus. Also man-eater shark.
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the world > animals > fish > subclass Elasmobranchii > order Pleurotremata > [noun] > family Isuridae > member of genus Carcharodon (man-eater)
whiteOE
requiem1666
man-eater1829
pointer1881
1677 S. Speed Prison-pietie 16 This biting Usurer, or Man-eater, he Is like the Shark that swimmeth in the Sea, Devouring lesser Fish.]
1829 T. C. Haliburton Hist. & Statist. Acct. Nova-Scotia II. 404 Shark species. Man-eater shark.
1832 W. D. Williamson Hist. Maine I. 161 The Shark, among fishermen, is called the ‘maneater’, ‘the shovel-nose’, and ‘the swingle-tail’; these being varieties of the species.
1837 N. Hawthorne Twice-told Tales (1851) II. xviii. 259 To ascertain that the maneater [sc. a shark] had already met his own death.
1882 D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert Synopsis Fishes N. Amer. 30 Man-eater Shark.
1884 G. B. Goode in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I 671 A Shark closely related to our Man-eater.
1923 N.Y. Times 13 Sept. 23/7 (heading) Shark-hunters hook man-eater, then cut line to escape him.
1963 D. G. Stead Sharks & Rays Austral. Seas (1964) viii. 67 The Whaler is often known as the Man-eater Shark... Not that this or any other great shark is essentially a man-eater by regular habit or by preference.
1985 A. Wheeler World Encycl. Fishes 144/2 Carcharodon carcharias. White shark or pointer, man-eater.
1989 S. Stone Kylie Minogue (BNC) As the sexy songbird marvelled at the underwater wildlife, the huge maneater moved in to make a meal of the talented star.
b. More generally: an animal, esp. a tiger, lion, or leopard, that eats or has a propensity for eating human flesh.
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the world > animals > by eating habits > [noun] > carnivore
flesh-vourer1533
flesh-eater1616
man-eater1835
zoophagan1835
carnivore1854
sarcophagan-
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Felidae (feline) > [noun] > genus Panthera > panthera tigris (tiger)
tigera1000
Johnny1814
man-eater1835
(Old) Stripes1885
1835 A. Smith Diary 7 Sept. (1940) II. 209 I turn round and throw the lion; he bites me... The man-eater of Kasikatima.
1839 E. Eden Up the Country (1866) II. 98 They had been after a great man-eater, who has carried off seven or eight people lately.
1862 J. Greenwood Wild Sports 191 It marks the spot where..fell one of the most terrible ‘man-eaters’ the world ever saw.
1883 F. Day Indian Fish 51 The common crocodile, Crocodilus palustris and C. porosus..often termed man-eaters.
1922 E. Blunden Bonadventure xvi. 95 To sleep there was to be slowly suffocated, let alone the folly of sleeping among man-eaters [sc. mosquitoes].
1957 R. Campbell Portugal iv. 61 Aulus Fedeus had another [moray]..a man-eater.
1983 R. Narayan Tiger for Malgudi 135 A tiger has been established to be a man-eater.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > habits and actions of horse > [noun] > horse that bites
man-eater1840
1840 E. E. Napier Scenes & Sports Foreign Lands I. v. 140 The larger horses..are leggy, under-limbed, and, as far as vice goes, regular man-eaters.
1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Indian Househ. Managem. 68 Some horses in India are called ‘man-eaters’, and have to be blindfolded while you mount, or they would bite you.
a. = hellbender n. 1. Obsolete.
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the world > animals > amphibians > order Urodela or Caudata > [noun] > family Cryptobranchidae > cryptobranchus alleghaniensis (hellbender)
land pike1687
hellbender1812
mud-devil1825
water-puppy1832
Menopoma1835
menopome1842
man-eater1859
ground-puppy1863
mud puppy1877
1859 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 2) at Water-Dogs In Pennsylvania and the Eastern States they [sc. various species of salamanders] are called Spring-keepers and Man-eaters.
1883 Rep. Indian Affairs (U.S.) 116 The balance of this large area [on the Western Shoshoni reservation, Nevada]..is absolutely worthless for any purpose except as the home of the coyote, man-eater, rattlesnake [etc.].
b. = dobson n. Obsolete.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > division Endopterygota or Metabola (winged) > [noun] > order Neuroptera > suborder Megaloptera > family Sianidae
mayfly1640
man-eater1890
1890 Cent. Dict. Man-eater, the dobson or hellgrammite.
4. colloquial.
a. A woman who is regarded as naturally predacious in her search for or treatment of lovers.
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society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > loss of chastity > [noun] > seduction > seducer > seductress
Laïs1576
Delilah1585
seductress1803
femme fatale1879
man-eater1906
wolfess1945
Lolita1959
1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xi. 136 To Spats' Beauties she was always Porline or The Man-Eater.
1928 A. Huxley Point Counter Point xiv. 264 Marjorie isn't the only bore. Nor Lucy the only man-eater.
1968 D. Gray Died in Red xx. 122 ‘She's pretty, you said?’.. ‘Very, sir.’ ‘And a man-eater?’ ‘I'd say so, yes, sir.’
1989 Jackie 25 Nov. 15/3 Get to know that stunning blonde who you regard as a real man-eater, you may find she's quite normal after all!
b. Nautical. A ship's officer who is particularly strict or harsh on his crew.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities at sea > seafaring warrior or naval man > leader or commander > [noun] > naval officer > officers by personality
tarpaulinc1690
x-chaser1904
man-eater1929
boffin1941
roaring forties1948
1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 88 Man Eater, a particularly tough officer under sail.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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