λέων, οντος, ὁ,
Epic dialect dative plural λείουσι [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 5.782, etc., λεόντεσσι “IG” 12(2).285 (Mytil., probably)] Refs 8th c.BC+]:—lion, ὠμοφάγοι λ. Il.[same place]; αἴθων 18.161; χαροποί [[ 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 11.611; ὀρεσίτροφος 6.130, compare 5th c.BC: Herodotus Historicus 7.126 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; compare λίς: metaphorically, of Artemis, σὲ λέοντα γυναιξὶ Ζεὺς θῆκεν Zeus made thee a lion toward women (because she was supposed to cause their sudden death), [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 21.483 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; used of savage persons, [[ 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Choephori” 938 (Lyric poetry)] Refs 4th c.BC+]; but also, of brave men, [[ [prev. author] “Ag.” 1259, 5th c.BC: Euripides Tragicus “Orestes” 1401 (Lyric poetry), 1555 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; of a baby, [[ 5th-6th c.BC: Aristophanes Comicus “Thesmophoriazusae” 514 (but by way of contrast, of a coward, λέοντ᾽ ἄναλκιν, of Aegisthus, 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Agamemnon” 1224); οἴκοι μὲν λέοντες, ἐν μάχῃ δ᾽ ἀλώπεκες 5th-6th c.BC: Aristophanes Comicus “Pax” 1189 (Lyric poetry); ἀντὶ λέοντος πίθηκον γίγνεσθαι 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus “Respublica” 590b; ξυρεῖν ἐπιχειρεῖν λέοντα, of a dangerous undertaking, 'to bell the cat', [prev. work] 341c. ] Refs 5th c.BC+]
__2 “Leo”, the sign in the Zodiac, [[ 4th c.BC: Eudoxus Astronomus cited in 2nd c.BC: Hipparchus Astronomicus 1.2.8, 3rd c.BC: Euclides Geometra “Phaenomena” p.12 M., 4th-3rd c.BC: Aratus Epicus 148, “IG” 14.1307. ] Refs 4th c.BC+]
__3 ={λεοντῆ}, lion's skin, [[ 2nd c.AD: Lucianus Sophista “Hist.Conscr.” 10. ] Refs 2nd c.AD+]