Definition of "bestiary" [bes•ti•a•ry]

• A medieval collection of stories providing physical and allegorical descriptions of real or imaginary animals along with an interpretation of the moral significance each animal was thought to embody. A number of common misconceptions relating to natural history were preserved in these popular accounts. (noun)
• A modern version of such a collection. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And according to Medieval Folklore, an early Syrian [bestiary] is quite explicit: The unicorn approaches the virgin, 'throwing himself upon her."
• "This bestiary is included in the second section of 45 Mercy Street, first published in 1976, two years after Sexton’s suicide."
• "So I wound up calling it a bestiary, which is just a book in which animals do things that people do."