mermaid

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mer·maid

(mûr′mād′)

A legendary sea creature having the head and upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish.

[Middle English : mere, sea, lake; see mere² + maid, maid; see maid.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mermaid

(ˈmɜːˌmeɪd)

(European Myth & Legend) an imaginary sea creature fabled to have a woman's head and upper body and a fish's tail

[C14: from mere lake, inlet + maid]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mer•maid

(ˈmɜrˌmeɪd)

n.

(in folklore) a female marine creature, having the upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish.

[1300–50]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

mermaid - half woman and half fish; lives in the sea

imaginary being, imaginary creature - a creature of the imagination; a person that exists only in legends or myths or fiction

Translations

حُورِيَّةُ الْـمَاءِحوريَّة الماء، عَروس البَحْر

mořská panna

havfrue

Meerjungfrau Nixe Meerjungfer

γοργόνα

sirena

merenneito

sirène

morska sirenasirena

sellõ

hafmey

sirena

人魚

인어

undinė

nāra

morská panna

morska deklica

sjöjungfru

นางเงือก

deniz kızı

nàng tiên cá

美人鱼

mermaid

[ˈmɜːmeɪd] N → sirena f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

mermaid

[ˈmɜː^rmeɪd] n → sirène f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

mermaid

n → Nixe f, → See- or Meerjungfrau f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

mermaid

[ˈmɜːmeɪd] n → sirena

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

mermaid

(ˈməːmeid) – masculine ˈmerman (-man) – noun

an imaginary sea creature with a human body down to the waist and a fish's tail.

mermaid

→ حُورِيَّةُ الْـمَاءِ mořská panna havfrue Meerjungfrau γοργόνα sirena merenneito sirène morska sirena sirena 人魚 인어 meermin havfrue syrena sereia русалка sjöjungfru นางเงือก deniz kızı nàng tiên cá 美人鱼

References in classic literature ?

Her final employment was to gather seaweed of various kinds, and make herself a scarf or mantle, and a head-dress, and thus assume the aspect of a little mermaid. She inherited her mother's gift for devising drapery and costume.

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I wonder whether she is a dragon by-the-bye, or something in the mermaid way.

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'According to the constitution of mermaids, so much of a mermaid as is not a woman must be a fish.

'Did you ever hear tell of mermaids, sir?' said Mr Willet.

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But is the Queen a mermaid, to be presented with a tail?

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Lord, Lord, in the water she was a mermaid, a sea-goddess.

She eluded me like the mermaid she was, and I saw the laughter on her face as she fled.

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"Well, they went to the bottom, and a nice mermaid welcomed them, but was much grieved on finding the box of headless knights, and kindly pickled them in brine, hoping to discover the mystery about them, for being a woman, she was curious.

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But, according to the success with which you put this and that together, you get a woman and a fish apart, or a Mermaid in combination.

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As they drew nearer, and I watched the rising and sinking of their forms, and beheld the uplifted right arm bearing above the water the girdle of tappa, and their long dark hair trailing beside them as they swam, I almost fancied they could be nothing else than so many mermaids--and very like mermaids they behaved too.

The ship taken, we could not do otherwise than yield ourselves prisoners, and for the whole period that she remained in the bay, the Dolly, as well as her crew, were completely in the hands of the mermaids.

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Is it but the mermaids singing deep below the waving waters; or sad spirits, chanting dirges for white corpses, held by seaweed?" Harris would take you by the arm, and say: