MERMAID

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mermaid mean? 

• MERMAID (noun)
  The noun MERMAID has 1 sense:

1. half woman and half fish; lives in the sea

  Familiarity information: MERMAID used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MERMAID (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Half woman and half fish; lives in the sea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("mermaid" is a kind of...):

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

 Context examples 

Can it be woman? Can it be Neptune? Or a trident? or a mermaid? or a shark?

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Yes, you are dripping like a mermaid; pull my cloak round you: but I think you are feverish, Jane: both your cheek and hand are burning hot.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

By-and-by a diver came down, and the mermaid said, 'I'll give you a box of pearls if you can take it up,' for she wanted to restore the poor things to life, and couldn't raise the heavy load herself.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Where would be the use of his bringing us a charade made by a friend upon a mermaid or a shark?

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

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.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Mermaids and sharks!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)