Definition of "hyena"

hyena

/haɪˈiːnə/

noun
plural hyenas or hyena or hyenae
1. Any of the medium-sized to large feliform carnivores of the subfamily Hyaenidae, native to Africa and Asia and noted for the sound similar to laughter which they can make if excited.
  Quotations
  I took no systematic data on the costs to cheetahs and hyenas, but some anecdotes suggest that both parties took numerical advantage and hunger into account.
  1994, T. M. Caro, Cheetahs of the Serengeti Plains: Group Living in an Asocial Species‎, page 283
  Hyenas are scavengers, which means they eat food left behind by other animals and people.
  2002, Maskew Miller Longman, Find Out about African Animals‎, page 28
  Hyena biologists often think of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) as baboons with big teeth and relatively small brains.
  2003, Anne Engh, Kay E. Holekamp, “Case Study 5A: Maternal Rank "Inheritance" in the Spotted Hyena”, in Frans B. M. De Waal, Peter L Tyack, editors, Animal Social Complexity: Intelligence, Culture, and Individualized Societies, page 149
2. (Sub-Saharan Africa) A man that performs ritualized sex acts with recently widowed women and menarchal girls.