mermaid
Americannoun
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(in folklore) a female marine creature, having the head, torso, and arms of a woman and the tail of a fish.
-
a highly skilled female swimmer.
noun
Etymology
Origin of mermaid
First recorded in 1300–50, mermaid is from the Middle English word mermayde. See mere 2, maid
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
An azure booth is flanked by an abstracted mermaid sculpture, and elsewhere howling wolves are engraved into the bar tops.
From Los Angeles Times
“Hans Christian Andersen bartered with a mermaid who lived in the cold waters of the Odense Fjord.”
From Literature
After listing Oppenheimer’s wartime accomplishments, including overseeing the invention of the plutonium bomb, Rabi asked the inquisitors, “What more do you want, mermaids?”
From Los Angeles Times
Occasionally a herd of hippocamps would come and swim alongside the boats, or a mermaid would approach a fisherman, playing a tune on a flute made from a razor clam.
From Literature
My boy is such a traditional boy, and then the girls want to dress up like mermaids and princesses.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
