Liv Tyler and Drew Barrymore at the 1999 Oscars

Webster’s defines a puma as a “large wild cat found in North and South America. Tawny- coated, it is 4.5 ft/1.5 m long with a 3 ft/1 m tail. It lives alone, with each male occupying a distinct territory; it eats deer, rodents, and cattle. It has been hunted nearly to extinction.”

Webster’s definition of a cougar is “another name for the puma.”

In other words, a puma and a cougar are the same animal. I’m not sure why cougar and not puma became the go-to word for women like Demi Moore and Sharon Stone who go for much younger men.

Apparently there is a distinction, according to the Urban Dictionary: “In the lexicon of older women seeking younger men, a jaguar is 50 and over, where the cougar is in their 40s, and the puma under 40.”

Liv Tyler may not know that puma and cougar are synonyms, but she does know her slang.

Going through her first divorce, Liv and twice-divorced friend Drew Barrymore had a ladies’ night out October 9 at The Terrace at Sunset Tower Hotel in LA, according to Life & Style.

Drew confessed to Liv, “I love dating younger guys — I’m a bona fide cougar.” Liv protested that they were too young to be cougars.

“Aren’t we pumas?” Liv asked. “I think pre-cougar is puma.”

Puma or cougar, Life & Style claims Drew “turned the whole place into a party.”

Drew, 33, who recently hooked up with Ed Westwick, 21, and has dated Fabrizio Moretti, 28, and Justin Long, 30, seemed pleased as punch with the label and ordered another round of martinis. “They were laughing so much,” says the witness. “Drew kept joking with the wait staff, inviting them to sit with her, offering to buy them shots.”

[From Life & Style, print edition, October 27, 2008]

For future reference, a young cougar is technically referred to as a kitten or a cub.

Whatever the term, go for it, girls. As Demi Moore can surely attest, if you can’t find a good man, raise one.

Note by Celebitchy: Drew Barrymore isn’t always a puma by her own definition of the word. The last guy she was seen out with was 45 year-old producer Barry Mendel, who is working with her on her film Whip It. Here are photos of those two out together on 10/5/08. Liv Tyler is also shown with her son, Milo, who turns four in December, on 10/21/08. Credit: Fame Pictures. You may have already heard this story, but I thought it was a cute one.

Sharon Stone is a lady I would have always described as a cougar – long before she started dating a 24-year-old. There’s something about her long nails, penchant for fur, and generally abrasive personality that says, “I eat living creatures for snacks – and I prefer it that way.” But now it turns out Stone is the other kind of cougar – the kind that dates ridiculously young men as some sort of status symbol. Luckily for the poor fellow in question, it doesn’t sound like it’s too serious on either side.

Sharon Stone’s current love interest is half her age — and that hasn’t stopped him from bragging about her to all of his friends. “I’ve started dating Sharon Stone, and she’s pretty good for 50,” Chase Dreyfous, 24, told his pals at a birthday party at Crown Bar on August 8 in LA.

“Sharon called him and he showed the caller ID to everyone,” adds an insider. The unlikely pair, who met in early July while working together on Sharon’s charity, Planet Hope, were first spotted getting cozy at a party thrown by fashion designer Christian Audigier on August 2 in LA.

“She’s really into him and even asked him to come with her to Mexico,” the insider says. Sharon was married to media mogul Phil Bronstein for six years before they divorced in early 2004. Chase and Sharon stepped out at Christian Audigier’s “white party,” which was held to celebrate the birthday of Christian’s wife, Ira.

[From In Touch]

Yeah, she’s pretty good for fifty because she drinks the blood of three twelve-year-olds in a fruit-based cocktail every morning. I’m telling you Chase, be wary. I am absolutely certain she’s just watching over you before she bites into your neck. Calling Sharon Stone a cougar is easily the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about her. There is no way that woman is as maternal and loving as a cougar would be. She’s not even as kind as a black widow spider. If she tries to get you take out a life insurance policy with her as the beneficiary, run. I’ve seen all this in Lifetime movies, and I’m telling you now, it’s not going anywhere good.

Who wouldn’t want to date this fine thing? Here’s Stone on Friday. Images thanks to Fame.