naiad

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“
A naiad, at a fountain, the waters of which had failed, she turned not to another, but bent weeping over the spot, hoping, yet faint with a long desire to hear the murmur of the coming stream There fell, at last, a gleam of light across her path.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun Greek Mythology One of the nymphs who lived in and presided over brooks, springs, and fountains.
  2. noun The satellite of Neptune that is closest to the planet.
  3. noun The aquatic nymph of certain insects, such as the mayfly, damselfly, or dragonfly.
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Examples (50)

  • She had neither the flounces nor the necklaces of some citizen's matronly wife, yet despite all the spear-carriers, cloak and footwear attendants, name-takers and doorkeepers, she had got into his office, brushing off the paraphernalia of delay as carelessly as a naiad paddling through foam; she knew palaces. —  Davis, Lindsey - The Course of Honor
  • Many the time has she sprung from that projecting point to swim, naiad-like, underneath it. —  Gaspar the Gaucho A Story of the Gran Chaco
  • Her motions were those of some graceful naiad, cleaving, by a mere effort of her will, the clear, unruffled waters that fill the chambers of the sea. —  Masterpieces of Mystery In Four Volumes Mystic-Humorous Stories
  • She must have been named after a negress naiad, for black was the prevailing colour on board, from the dark, dingy forecastle to the captain's state cabin, which was but a degree less dirty than the portion of the vessel in which I was destined to live. —  Happy Jack and other Tales of the Sea
  • Jennie ran home in great haste as soon as she was free from her limping companion; and Dotty entered the side-door dripping like a naiad Why, Alice Parlin!" —  Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmother's
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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Latin nāias, nāiad-, from Greek nāias, probably from nān, to flow; see (s)nāu- in Indo-European roots.
 

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