Definition of "panther" []

• The leopard, especially in its black unspotted form. (noun)
• See mountain lion. (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.

• "Of the larger quadrupeds belonging to this continent, the bears, and wolves, and foxes are often in motion by starlight; the moose and the deer frequently feed under a dark sky; the panther is almost wholly nocturnal; the wary and industrious beaver also works at night; that singular creature, the opossum, sleeps in his tree by day and comes down at night."
• ""A black panther is a black (melanistic) color variant of one of several species of larger cat which are known by the term panther in various parts of the world, and belong to the feline genus panthera which contains lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars."
• "The latest sighting of a reported black panther is in an area off of Highway 154 near Rhonesboro, in an area called Raintree Lake."