Adjacent Words

Mermaid definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MER'MAID, n. [L.mare, the sea, and maid.] A marine animal, said to resemble a woman in the upper parts of the body, and a fish in the lower part. The male is called the merman.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: half woman and half fish; lives in the sea

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English mermayde, from mere sea (from Old English) + mayde maid — more at marine Date: 14th century a fabled marine creature with the head and upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. an imaginary half-human sea creature, with the head and trunk of a woman and the tail of a fish. Etymology: ME f. MERE(2) in obs. sense 'sea' + MAID

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mermaid Mer"maid, n. [AS. mere lake, sea. See Mere lake, and maid.] 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. Note: Chaucer uses this word as equivalent to the siren of the ancients. Mermaid fish (Zo["o]l.) the angel fish (Squatina). Mermaid's glove (Zo["o]l.), a British branched sponge somewhat resembling a glove. Mermaid's head (Zo["o]l.), a European spatangoid sea urchin (Echinocardium cordatum) having some resemblance to a skull. Mermaid weed (Bot.), an aquatic herb with dentate or pectinate leaves (Proserpinaca palustris and P. pectinacea).

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mermaids) In fairy stories and legends, a mermaid is a woman with a fish's tail instead of legs, who lives in the sea. N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

Davy, Davy Jones, Dylan, Neptune, Nereid, Nereus, Oceanid, Oceanus, Poseidon, Thetis, Triton, Varuna, bather, bathing beauty, bathing girl, diver, fresh-water nymph, frogman, kelpie, limniad, man fish, merman, naiad, natator, nix, nixie, ocean nymph, sea devil, sea god, sea nymph, sea-maid, sea-maiden, seaman, siren, swimmer, undine, water god, water spirit, water sprite