An old-fashioned North American term for a puma — also known as a mountain lion, cougar, or panther. The 'red lion' name references the tawny reddish-brown coat of these large cats, drawing a poetic comparison to the lion of Old World heraldry. While the term is mostly historical and rarely used today, it reflects the creative naming conventions early settlers used to describe unfamiliar American wildlife through familiar European references.
Early settlers in the mountains sometimes called the big cats red lions, not knowing they were a species unique to the Americas.
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(US, Canada) The puma.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.