griffin (2)

[Etym. doubtful, but perhaps the same word as Griffin (1) (q. v.), the new-comer being looked upon as a strange animal neither Eng. lish nor Indian, as a griffon is neither lion nor eagle.] An Anglo-Indian sportive term for a newcomer who has arrived from Europe. He makes ludicrous mistakes, not however like the scholas tikos of the Greeks from deficiency of intellect, but from want of Indian experience. Taking advantage of this, if he be a young cadet, his companions in arms sometimes willfully cause him to fall into blunders, which left to himself he might avoid. [GRIFFIN AGE] "All the griffins ought to hunt together."-H. Kingsley : Geoffry Hamlyn , ch. xxviii.