​PANTHER, another name for the leopard (q.v), also used in America as the name of the puma (q.v.). The word is adaptation of Lat. panthera; Gr. πάνθηρ the supposed derivation, of which from πᾶς, all and θήρ, and, animal, gave rise to tailes and fables in medieval bestiaries and later scientific works. The panther was supposed to be a distinct animal from the pardus, pard, the leopard, to which also many legends are attached. In modern times a distinction had been unscientfically drawn between a larger type of leopard to which the name panther was given, and a smaller and more graceful specimen.