Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A legendary sea creature having the head and upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A fabled marine or amphibian creature having the form of woman above the waist and that of a fish below, endowed with human attributes, and usually working harm, with or without malignant intent, to mortals with whom she might be thrown into relation.
Wiktionary
- n. A mythological creature with a woman's head and upper body, and a tail of a fish.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A fabled marine creature, typically represented as having the upper part like that of a woman, and the lower like a fish; a sea nymph, sea woman, or woman fish.
WordNet 3.0
- n. half woman and half fish; lives in the sea
Etymologies
- From Middle English mermayde ("maid of the sea"), from mere ("sea, lake") + maid, equivalent to mer- + maid. Compare Old English meremenn, meremennen, meremenin ("mermaid, siren"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English : mere, sea, lake; see mere2 + maid, maid; see maid. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Sarah, who goes by the name mermaid lady on BodySpace, took a gradual approach by first researching nutrition and exercise and talking to others about weight loss and training, then incorporating strategies for creating change.”
“The wife of a Teton (the Tetons are a tribe of American natives) deserted him, abandoned her infant to her younger brother's care, and plunged into a stream, where she became what we call a mermaid, -- and all because her husband had scolded her.”
“She was wearing what she called her mermaid outfit: long, form-fitting aquamarine sequined skirt slit nearly to the waist, halter top, shimmering cape held like angel wings,”
“That’s how it ended up with the name mermaid weed.”
“A Mazatlan mermaid is captured in perpetual performance for strollers and lovers alike.”
“The mermaid is awesome, the fire elemental is sick, but the two faced guy is stupid.”
“Life as a mermaid is much easier than all this! we lay piles of eggs on the coral reef and the mermen fertilise them. then we all go off and play water volley ball.”
“May 18th, 2009 at 10: 33 pm this mermaid is fake because in the pic the hair is to shiny don’t u think”
“I hesitate to use the word mermaid as she does not look like one in the traditional sense.”
“The mermaid was a sign, an advertisement of some kind, for a business run by a man in a nice car.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mermaid’.
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Mythical Beings
mermaid, manticore, fairy, brownie, dwarf, elf, leprechaun, selkie, gremlin, puck, pixie, genie and 97 more...
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Phantasmas
Ouroboros, chimera, incubus, cerberus, hippogriff, leviathan, centaur, Jabberwock, numen, snark, sphinx, hippocamp and 26 more...
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sealust
sea-maid, arm of the sea, naupathia, seafaring, sea-born, mermaid, mother-of-pearl, maritime, calenture, whale road, euphausiid, Panthalassa and 3 more...
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favored
visceral, twinkle, whalebone, incandescent, carousel, entangle, brevity, desolate, twirl, deltoid, graceless, tryst and 94 more...
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What's That Pokémon Name?
Words used to create the names of Pokémon, which are usually portmanteaux.
bulb, dinosaur, ivy, venus, char, salamander, squirt, turtle, blast, tortoise, water, caterpillar and 525 more...
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A List of Mythical Proportions
All of these things exist, I swear!
unicorn, pegasus, cyclops, yeti, abominable snowman, bigfoot, phoenix, thunderbird, sea serpent, ogre, grue, troll and 138 more...
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Flutter
tuberose, golden apple, apple cider, unicorn, extraordinary, Pleiades, Merope, speckle, glitter, rose, pitter-pat, whale and 314 more...
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The Devil and His Imps
Names of 'the Devil himself, the devils his "flaming ministers", household goblins, rural demons, bogles, sprites, and fairies of all kinds' mentioned in Charles P.G. Scott's 'The Devil and His Imp...
devil, devilet, deviling, dablet, black angel, black man, black bear, black bull, black dog, bogle, bogie, boggard and 128 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (M)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
mace, macintosh, madras, magenta, magic 8 ball, magma, mahogany, maiden, mail, mainsail, maize, malachite and 169 more...
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mariposa417's Words
cerulean, jewel, malfeasance, precipice, crossroads, beautiful, adore, sublime, superfluous, poppy, monarch, lashes and 101 more...
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Fictional beasties
elf, gnome, dwarf, sprite, troll, fairy, nymph, imp, brownie, sasquatch, yeti, wookiee and 574 more...
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ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
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junemoonchild's Favorite Words
Aubrey, astrology, Cancer, Taurus, dybbuk, enchantress, love, mystery, mysteriarch, spirit, melancholy, disintegration and 129 more...
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mandarine's Words
antepenultimate, metonymy, synecdoche, pop, kern, inherit, clique, scrumptious, macerate, murmur, kerning, veranda and 1068 more...
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savage215's Words
pipe, yankee, knickerbocker, tennis, plasma, magma, volcano, car, truck, television, tv, word and 445 more...
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beautiful words
quench, metropolitan, dollop, cucumber, aesthetic, superfluous, gastronomy, nymph, obsequious, serendipity, champagne, gossamer and 125 more...
Tweets
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