NYMPH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does nymph mean? 

• NYMPH (noun)
  The noun NYMPH has 3 senses:

1. (classical mythology) a minor nature goddess usually depicted as a beautiful maiden

2. a larva of an insect with incomplete metamorphosis (as the dragonfly or mayfly)

3. a voluptuously beautiful young woman

  Familiarity information: NYMPH used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NYMPH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(classical mythology) a minor nature goddess usually depicted as a beautiful maiden

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

the ancient Greeks believed that nymphs inhabited forests and bodies of water

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

Graeco-Roman deity; Greco-Roman deity (a deity of classical mythology)

Domain category:

classical mythology (the system of mythology of the Greeks and Romans together; much of Roman mythology (especially the gods) was borrowed from the Greeks)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nymph"):

Echo ((Greek mythology) a nymph who was spurned by Narcissus and pined away until only her voice remained)

Atlantides; Hesperides ((Greek mythology) group of 3 to 7 nymphs who guarded the golden apples that Gaea gave as a wedding gift to Hera)

Hyades ((Greek mythology) 7 daughters of Atlas and half-sisters of the Pleiades; they nurtured the infant Dionysus and Zeus placed them among the stars as a reward)

Oread ((Greek mythology) one of the mountain nymphs)

Pleiades ((Greek mythology) 7 daughters of Atlas and half-sisters of the Hyades; placed among the stars to save them from the pursuit of Orion)

Asterope; Sterope ((Greek mythology) one of the 7 Pleiades)

water nymph ((Greek mythology) any nymph of the water)

Daphne ((Greek mythology) a nymph who was transformed into a laurel tree to escape the amorous Apollo)

dryad; wood nymph (a deity or nymph of the woods)

Salmacis (nymph who merged with Hermaphroditus to form one body)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A larva of an insect with incomplete metamorphosis (as the dragonfly or mayfly)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

larva (the immature free-living form of most invertebrates and amphibians and fish which at hatching from the egg is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A voluptuously beautiful young woman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

houri; nymph

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

adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

 Context examples 

Young bedbugs (called nymphs) are smaller and lighter in color.

(Bedbugs, Environmental Protection Agency)

Every shadowy nook, where seats invited one to stop and rest, was a mass of bloom, every cool grotto had its marble nymph smiling from a veil of flowers and every fountain reflected crimson, white, or pale pink roses, leaning down to smile at their own beauty.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"This is a nice restaurant here," said Mr. Wolfshiem looking at the Presbyterian nymphs on the ceiling. "But I like across the street better!"

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)