hamadryad
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun In Greek myth, a wood-nymph believed to live and die with the tree to which she was attached.
- noun In entomology: A dryad or wood-nymph, a butterfly of the old genus Hamadryas.
- noun In herpetology, a large, hooded, venomous Indian serpent, Naja hamadryas or Hamadryas elaps, now Ophiophagus elaps. It is related to the cobra.
- noun In mammalogy, a large Abyssinian baboon, Cynocephalus hamadryas, with long mane and whiskers and tufted tail. Also called hebe.
Examples
-
In the pale, elusive moonlight, and with that startled poise of figure, she might well have been the hamadryad at bay of one of her most famous dances.
-
Any face might look out from that mist, any white feet of nymph or hamadryad pass among the glimmering aisles; in the dim, lilac-tinted distance it may be that Merlin still sleeps in his vaporous magic circle.
-
But closer examination proved the bones to be those of a packda (ape). Snakes and worms wriggled out of the skeleton, and Piang shrank back in fear. The dread hamadryad leered at him; poisonous toads and lizards scurried for cover.
The Adventures of Piang the Moro Jungle Boy A Book for Young and Old
Note
'Hamadryad' is Greek in origin, and translates as 'together (hama) tree (drus).'
