Other forms: menageries
A menagerie is a collection of wild animals kept for show. A travelling menagerie, the royal menagerie, a whole menagerie.
It is the older word for what became a zoo, and the difference is the point: a menagerie displayed animals and a zoo claims to study and conserve them. The Tower of London kept a royal menagerie for six hundred years. Figuratively it means any odd assortment: a menagerie of relatives. Note that the French word comes from household management, since keeping animals was part of running a house.
1nounmenagerieA collection of wild animals kept for show.
“The rich duke kept a private menagerie of lions, bears and monkeys.”
2nounoddAny odd assortment.
“At the wedding, the groom's side was a menagerie of cousins, ex-girlfriends and old school friends.”
menagerie is an animal collection.
French ménagerie comes from ménager, to keep house, from ménage. Keeping domestic animals was part of housekeeping, and the word widened to cover exotic ones.
French
ménagerie
English, today
menagerie
Built from
From French ménagerie, derived from ménager (“to keep house”), ménage. Housekeeping used to include taking care of domestic animals.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Circus & Fairground, A Song of Ice and Fire