mermaid
(ˈmɜːmeɪd)
Forms: 4–9 mer-, 5 meer-, 5–6 mar-, 5–7 mere-, 6 meyr(e)-, mayr-, 6–7 mear(e)-, 6–8 mare-, mair-, 7 meir- (see forms of maid n.); also 8 mermade.
[f. mere n.1 + maid; cf. OE. męrew{iacu}f and mermin; also G. meerjungfrau, meerfräulein.]
1. a. An imaginary species of beings, more or less human in character, supposed to inhabit the sea, and to have the head and trunk of a woman, the lower limbs being replaced by the tail of a fish or cetacean. † In early use often identified with the siren of classical mythology.
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 450 Chauntecleer so free Soong murier than the Mermayde in the see. 1406 Hoccleve La Male Regle 236 It spekith of meermaides in the See. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 369 Poetes feyne iij meremaydes [orig. sirenes] to be in parte virgines and in parte bryddes. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lvi. 190 So swete a sownde that it semed to be the mermaydes of the see. 1592 Davies Immort. Soul ii. vi. Did sense perswade Ulysses not to hear The Mermaids songs. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 236 As for the Meremaids called Nereides, it is no fabulous tale that goes of them..onely their bodie is rough & skaled all ouer. a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal 265 Sea-monsters, such as mear-maids, and young tritons, half men, half fish. 1681 Dryden Sp. Friar iv. ii. 60 This Mermayd's melody Into an unseen whirl-pool draws you fast. 1762 Goldsm. Cit W. lxxxi, They have laid their hoops aside, and are become as slim as mermaids. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xxviii, Mermaid's alabaster grot, Who bathes her limbs in sunless well. 1819 Keats Eve St. Agnes xxvi, Half-hidden, like a mermaid in sea-weed. 1867 Roby Mermaid of Martin Meer in Trad. Lanc. (ed. 4) II. 174 'Tis said a mermaid haunts yon water. |
† b. Sometimes applied to the manatee or similar animals, whose form reminded observers of the mermaid of tradition.
Obs.| 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea xxxii. 78 These..are part terrestryall, and part aquatile, as the Mare-maide, Sea-horse, and other of that kind. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour, Netherl. I. 102 Among other things there is..the hand of a mermade..and several other curiosities. |
2. a. A representation of this being,
esp. Her. Usually if not invariably depicted heraldically with long flowing golden locks, and holding in the right-hand a comb and in the left a mirror or hand-glass.
| 1464 Will of Kent (Somerset Ho.), Vnum meremayde de argento. 1533 Visit. Lancs. (Chetham Soc. No. 98) 55 A meyre mayd haire come & glasse or. 1631 Heywood London's Ius Hon. Wks. 1874 IV. 276 Upon the top of the one stands a Sea Lyon vpon the other a Meare-maide or Sea-Nimphe. 1761 Ann. Reg. 238 The fishmongers pageants consisted of..two mairmaids [etc.]. 1874 Papworth's Ord. Brit. Armorials 983/1 Vert a mermaid arg. crined or holding a comb and glass of the third. |
b. A favourite sign for a shop, inn, or tavern.
| 1428 in E.E. Wills (1882) 78 My mancion that is cleped the Mermaid in Bredstreet. 1463 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 151 The dynnere at the Mermayde,..xiiij.s. vj.d. 1527 Rastall Abridg. Statutes (Colophon), Enprynted in the chepe syde at the sygne of the mere mayde next to poulys gate. a 1616 Beaumont Let. to B. Jonson 44 What things have we seen Done at the Mermaid? 1639 Mayne City Match iii. iii. 30, I had made an Ordinary..at the Mermaid. 1678 Dryden Kind Keeper ii. i. (1680) 13 How sits my Chedreux? Ger. O very finely! with the Locks comb'd down, like a Maremaids, on a Sign-post. |
3. transf. † a. = siren; in 16–17th c. applied to a prostitute.
Obs. b. jocularly. A woman who is at home in the water.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 45 Oh traine me not sweet Mermaide with thy note,..Sing Siren for thy selfe, and I will dote. 1595 Markham Sir R. Grinvile lxxii, Honietongd Tullie, Mermaid of our eares. 16.. Massinger, etc. Old Law iv. i, Gnotho. I have Siren here already. Agatha. What? a mermaid? Gnotho. No, but a maid, horse-face! 1602 Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 234 A Gentleman..shall not..sneake into a Tauerne with his Mermaid, but [etc.]. 1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths I. 3 She had floated..semi-nude, with all the other mermaids à la mode. |
4. The name of a country dance.
| 1701 Newest Acad. Compliments (N.), The Mermaid.—The leaders-up change sides, then turn each the other's partner [etc.]. 1716 Playford's Dancing-Master (ed. 16) I. 105 Maremaid [music and directions]. |
5. a. false mermaid, a plant of the North American genus
Flœrkea,
esp. F. proserpinacoides.
| 1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. App. v. 103/2 Flœrkia palustris (false mermaid). 1846–50 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 200 Flœrkea proserpinacoides... False Mermaid. 1860 in A. Gray Man. Bot. North. U.S. 74. |
b. A vigorous climbing rose with single yellow flowers, produced by crossing
Rosa bracteata (
Macartney rose) with a yellow tea rose and introduced in 1918 by William Paul & Son.
| 1918 Rose Annual 148 The most sensational Rose among Climbers of the year was undoubtedly that fine Hybrid, Mermaid. The huge golden lemon single flowers charmed everyone who saw it. 1922 T. G. W. Henslow Rose Encycl. xix. 409/2 Mermaid..Wm Paul & Son 1918:—Flower sulphury yellow,..of great size, single, produced continuously from early summer till late in autumn. 1965 G. S. Thomas Climbing Roses iv. 62 A few old roses.., and some newer varieties like ‘Mermaid’ and ‘New Dawn’, show that grace and recurrence of bloom can be combined. 1974 Times 26 Oct. 12/4 Plant a fast-growing rose like Mermaid or Albertine to cover the pergola. |
6. attrib. and
Comb., as
mermaid-bride;
mermaid-like adv.:
mermaid-fish, the monk-fish or angel-fish,
Rhina squatina;
mermaid-pie, a sucking pig baked whole in a crust;
mermaid-weed U.S., a name for aquatic plants of the genus
Proserpinaca, having leaves toothed like a comb.
| 1823 Byron Island iv. ix, Proud and exulting in his *mermaid bride. |
| 1758 Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornw. 265 The monk or angel-fish (otherwise termed the *Mermaid-fish, as Artedi says). |
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. vii. 177 Her cloathes spred wide, And *Mermaid-like, a while they bore her vp. |
| 1661 Rabisha Cookery Dissected 175 To bake a Pigg to be eaten cold, called a *Maremaid Pie. |
| 1846–50 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 267 Proserpinaca palustris. Spear-leaved *Mermaid-weed... P. pectinacea... Cat-leaved Mermaid-weed. |
b. With possessive, as
mermaid's egg = mermaid's purse (
Cent. Dict. 1890);
mermaid's fishlines, a common cord-like seaweed,
Chorda filum (ibid.);
mermaid's glove, (
a) a British sponge,
Halichondria palmata, somewhat resembling a glove; (
b)
pl. = dead-man's fingers 2,
Alcyonium digitatum;
mermaid's hair, a dark green filamentous seaweed,
Lyngbya majuscula (
Cent. Dict.);
mermaid's head, one of the small rounded sea-urchins, as
Spatangus cordatus;
mermaid's lace, (
a) an alleged name for a kind of coralline; (
b) applied to a kind of Venetian point lace whose pattern is said to have been imitated from this;
mermaid's purse, the horny egg-case of a skate, ray, or shark (
= sea-purse);
mermaid's trumpet, the shell of one of the Turbinacean gasteropods (?
Nerita).
| 1808 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. V. 138 The sponge called *mermaid's glove. 1865 Gosse Year at Shore 74 The animal is sometimes, however, called cow's paps, and sometimes mermaid's gloves. 1863 Wood Nat. Hist. III. 769 The Mermaid's Glove..is certainly the largest of the British Sponges. |
| 1662 Ray Three Itin. iii. 169 A pretty shell covered with prickles or bristles, which the Welch call *mermaid's heads. |
| 1865 F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace 46 In the islands of the Lagune there still lingers a tale of the first origin of this most charming production. A sailor youth..brought home to his betrothed a bunch of that pretty coralline known..as the *mermaid's lace. The girl..imitated it with her needle, and..produced that delicate guipure which before long became the taste of all Europe. 1882 Caulfield & Saward Dict. Needlework, Mermaids Lace, a name sometimes given to fine Venetian Points, from the legend of a lace maker having copied the seaweed known as Mermaid—making of it one of the patterns in Venetian Point. |
| 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 368 These cases..are called *Mermaid's purses. |
| 1668 Charleton Onomasticon 182 Nerites..the *Mere-maids Trumpet. |