mountain lion

From mountain (“the animal's habitat”), + lion (“an African cat of similar size and color”).

mountain lion (plural mountain lions)

1. A cougar, Puma concolor.
   • 1915 April, Enos A. Mills, “The Forest Frontier”, in The Rocky Mountain Wonderland, Houghton Mifflin, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 64:

     The mountain lion may prowl here during any month.

• (Puma concolor): Felis concolor (formerly); puma, cougar, painter, painted cat, mountain ghost, Indian ghost, American lion, deer tiger, red tiger

• wild cat

• mountain lioness

• catamount (can refer to the mountain lion)
• catamountain (can refer to the mountain lion)
• panther (can refer to the mountain lion)
• Florida panther (a subspecies of mountain lion)