cougar

noun

Etymology: From French couguar, from Portuguese cuguardo, a deformation of Brazilian Portuguese suçuarana (earlier çuçuarana), from Old Tupi sûasuarana.

1. A wild feline, of species Puma concolor, native to the Americas.

   “They are found in Brasil, Paraguay, and in the country of the Amazons; and there is reason to believe that the animal, described by some travellers, under the name of the Ocorome, in Peru, is the same as the cougar, as well as that in the country of the Iroquois, which has been considered as a tiger, thought it is neither striped like that animal, nor spotted like the panther.”

   “The Cougar has entirely disappeared, or is very rarely met with. This animal was about the size of the wolf, of a gray color, strong, active, fierce and untameable.”

2. An older woman who actively seeks the casual, often sexual, companionship of younger men, by implication a female “sexual predator”.

   “A cougar approached Warren at the Palomino Club and asked for a dance.”

   “I am 26 years old and in a respectful but super-sexual relationship with a recent divorcée in her 40s. (A "cougar," in local slang.)”