Definition of "leonine" in English

adjective

1. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a lion; lionlike.

adjective

1. Of or pertaining to one of the popes named Leo; specifically (in Leonine City), to Pope Leo IV (r. 847–855) who ordered the building of a wall around Vatican Hill to protect what is now Vatican City, or (in Leonine Prayers) to Pope Leo XIII (r. 1878–1903).

2. (poetry) Being or relating to a kind of medieval Latin verse, generally alternative hexameter and pentameter, with rhyming at the middle and end of a line (that is, internal rhyme); also (by extension), of or relating to modern verse having internal rhyme.

   • leonine rhyme

noun

1. (poetry, chiefly in the plural) Synonym of Leonine verse (“a kind of medieval Latin verse, generally alternative hexameter and pentameter, with rhyming at the middle and end of a line (that is, internal rhyme)”).

noun

1. (numismatics, historical) A 13th-century coin minted in Europe and used in England as a debased form of the sterling silver penny; it was outlawed under Edward I (reigned 1272–1307).