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Saturday August 15, 2009

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menagerie [muh-NAJ-uh-ree; -NAZH-]

noun

1. A collection of wild or exotic animals on exhibition.
2. A facility or enclosure where wild or exotic animals are housed or exhibited.
3. A diverse, varied, or exotic group.

• Behind the front desk, more cats peered from rows of windowed cubbyholes. Above it, a multicolored mosaic depicted a menagerie of dogs and cats, birds and fish. And that was just in the lobby.
  Greg Gaudio, "New Home, Old Issues on Animal Care; As Gleaming Shelter Opens", The Washington Post, Jul 30, 2009
• Suminia went extinct about 250 million years ago, and it took 100 million years more before any other vertebrate animal would learn to climb trees, but eventually trees became the preferred dwelling places for a veritable menagerie of critters, from squirrels to monkeys to snakes and lizards.
  William Mullen, "Field researchers ID first of tree-dwellers", Chicago Tribune, Jul 29, 2009
• "Now, little man, for a holiday! The menagerie: lions, leopards, and a grand dompteuse; and afterwards dinner with me at the Cafe Blanche. I want a blow-out of lions and that sort. I'd like to be a lion-tamer myself for a month, or as long as might be."
  Gilbert Parker (1862 - 1932) A Canadian novelist and British politician. The Trespasser (1898)

Origin of the Word

Menagerie, approximately 1712, derives from French menagerie "housing for domestic animals," from Old French ménage "family dwelling."