merman
(ˈmɜːmən)
Also 7 mere-, mare-, mairman.
[f. mere n.1 + man n., after mermaid; cf. G. meermann, Du. meerman.]
1. The male of the mermaid; an imaginary marine creature with a man's head and trunk, and a fish's or cetacean's tail instead of the lower limbs.
In Heraldry, the merman (also called triton or Neptune) is depicted as holding in the right hand a trident, and in the left a conch-shell trumpet.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 236 Knights of Rome..who testifie, that..they haue seen a Mere-man, in euery respect resembling a man. 1611 Munday Chryso-thriambos, A Mare-man and a Mare-maid..do figure the long continued love and amity, which..hath been betweene the Goldsmiths and Fishmongers. 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1344/1 He and his Company, upon their crossing the Severne, saw a Mair-man appear a pretty while above water. 1711–12 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 12 Mar., Mermen are he-mermaids; Tritons, natives of the sea. 1823 Byron Island iv. v, Did they with ocean's hidden sovereigns dwell, And sound with mermen the fantastic shell? 1893 Cussans Handbk. Her. (ed. 4) 101 A Triton is sometimes called a Merman or Neptune. |
| Comb. a 1845 Hood Sub-marine ii, But (merman-like) he look'd marine All downward from the waist. |
2. merman's shaving brushes, ‘a name given in North America to different species of Chamædoris and Penicillus’ (Treas. Bot. 1866).