▪ I. nymph, n.
(nɪmf)
Forms: 4–7 nimphe, 6–7 nymphe, 7 nimph, 6– nymph.
[a. F. nymphe (OF. nimphe), ad. L. nympha: see nympha.]
1. a. Myth. One of a numerous class of semi-divine beings, imagined as beautiful maidens inhabiting the sea, rivers, fountains, hills, woods, or trees, and frequently introduced by the poets as attendants on a superior deity.
Special names for the various kinds of nymphs existed in Greek, and most of these have been employed in English, as dryad, hamadryad, naiad, Nereid, oceanid, oread.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 306, I rede Of thilke Nimphe which Laar hihte. Ibid. II. 336 With the Nimphes ek also Upon the spring of freisshe welles Sche schop to duelle. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 2580 With hir nimphes, Iuno cam be-hynde. c 1500 Melusine 15 Ye shuld shortly haue ben out of the handes of the Nymphes & of the fairees. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 54 Neptunes Daughter a Nymph, fleeing from Priapus, was turned into this tree. 1634 Milton Comus 824 There is a gentle Nymph not farr from hence, That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream. 1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. I. xxxvii. 145 Her fair maids..put me in mind of the pictures of the ancient nymphs. 1791 Cowper Iliad xviii. 63 Nor alone Came these, but every ocean-nymph beside. 1835 Thirlwall Greece vi. I. 200 Where flocks and herds of the Sun were tended by the nymphs. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 308 By night they appear, and, like all the nymphs of ancient times, amuse themselves with graceful dances. |
b. transf. A stream, river.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. 656 Kennet,..Her Silver Nymphs (almost) directly leading To meet her Mistress (the great Thames) at Reading. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Fam. Ep. Wks. (1711) 156 Having to these Seas of Joy..added this small Brook or Nymph of mine. 1889 Gretton Memory's Harkback 291 If the wandering nymph, Vaga, instead of flowing zigzag from Hereford to Ross, would but have meandered down this valley. |
c. A ship.
| 1876 R. F. Burton Gorilla L. II. 15, I transferred myself on board H.M. Steamship ‘Zebra’, one of the nymphs of the British navy. |
2. a. poet. A young and beautiful woman; hence, a maiden, damsel.
| 1584 Lodge Forbonius & Prisceria 32 O Nimph of beauties train, The onely cause and easer of my paine. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iv. i. 124 But soft, what nimphs are these? Egeus. My Lord, this is my daughter heere asleepe. c 1616 Sir W. Mure Miscell. Poems xv. 19 Then happie nimph, quhoise spreit in peace repoises. 1682 Dryden To Duchess York 12 But now the illustrious nymph, returned again, Brings every grace triumphant in her train. 1703 Rowe Fair Penit. i. i, I hastily took leave and left the Nymph. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 574 They expect to find a faithful nymph or swain in whatever their fancy sets upon. 1821 Byron Sardan. i. ii, Fair nymphs, who deign To share the soft hours of Sardanapalus. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) I. 326 And when the little Nymph had done, Said ‘Thank you, Love;—I'll write another!’ |
b. In euphemistic or jocular use. (Chiefly in phrases.)
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. i. 27 These vermillion Nymphs..would oft runne races, skipping like wanton Lambes. 1751 F. Coventry Pompey the Little 96 His Master..sold him a second time to a Nymph of Billingsgate for a Pennyworth of Oysters. 1833 W. Tolmie Jrnl. 28 Mar. (1963) 133 Nymphs of the pavé numerous (in Honolulu). 1859 Slang Dict. 69 Nymph of the Pave, a girl of the town. 1902 Farmer & Henley Slang V. 81 Nymph of darkness (or the pavement),..a prostitute. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §507/2 Prostitute..Nymph du pave. 1964 ‘W. Haggard’ Antagonists vii. 71 Counsellor of Embassy living with fellow-travelling nymph.{ddd} They'd do most things to muffle that one. 1965 ‘S. Harvester’ Assassins Road xvii. 180 He had been pretty sure she was a nymph. 1968 R. Stout Father Hunt (1969) xiii. 157 She was a nymph. She was a goddam tart. |
c. A type of fashionable woman under the Directory in France.
| 1898 M. Loyd tr. O. Uzanne's Fashion in Paris i. 14 The Nymph and the Merveilleuse—those types of a period of deep corruption and open libertinage. |
3. a. An insect in that stage of development which intervenes between the larva and the imago; a pupa.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 185 b, The other common sort, when they begin to haue fashion, are called nimphes. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 28 The young weak nymphs falling in those shady places..are in danger to be chilled. 1658 Rowland tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. 898 At length they grow to be Nymphs, i.e. little Bees, but without wings. 1747 Gould Eng. Ants 44 They are called Nymphs in allusion to Brides, because when they leave this State, they are often arrayed in Gayety and Splendour. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) III. 123/1 The hive is cleared of every egg, maggot, or nymph. 1834 M{supc}Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 415 The nymphs of the large species leave the water altogether. 1895 D. Sharp Insects i. 420 The mouth of the nymph bears a remarkable structure called the mask. |
| attrib. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Suppl. s.v., This is properly the nymph state. |
b. A fishing fly made in imitation of the aquatic larval form of may-flies, insects of the order Ephemeroptera.
| 1910 G. E. M. Skues Minor Tactics of Chalk Stream iv. 32, I had tied some nymphs of appropriate colour of body. 1922 R. C. Bridgett Dry-fly Fishing i. 17 The place of honour [as a lure] is occupied by the artificial nymph. 1973 Shooting Times & Country Mag. 7 July 13/3 There were virtually no rising fish to be seen and I decided to plod on with the nymph. |
† 4. pl. Anat. = nympha 2. Obs. rare.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 239 The two smaller clefts..between the Nymphes, the two Nymphes themselues. |
5. Conch. = nympha 3.
| 1839 Penny Cycl. XIV. 319/1 Shell often gaping a little at the lateral extremities... Nymphs..gaping outwards. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as nymph-fishing, nymph-land, nymph-mother, nymph-queen, nymph-song; nymph-haunted, nymph-less, nymph-pink, nymph-prompted, nymph-strong adjs.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. Babylon 71 The rowling ridges Of Nymph-strong floods. 1605 Ibid. iii. Lawe 982 Nymph-prompted Numa, or the Spartan's Lord. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. xxix, While thus of both bereft, the nymph-queen [Calypso] doubly sigh'd. 1835 Willis Pencillings xxxviii. I. 257 The lovely nymph-mother of Ganymede. 1881 O. Wilde Poems 69 Blue nymph-haunted seas. 1887 Bowen Virg. Ecl. ix. 19 Who was to chant to us stories of Nymph-land, blossom and flower. 1891 Bazaar 20 Feb. 264/3 Ivory-white, nymph-pink, blue, and heliotrope. 1930 E. Blunden Summer's Fancy 15 When nymph-songs echoed on the blossomed breeze. 1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 5 May 374/2 The delicate art of nymph-fishing. 1939 W. B. Yeats On Boiler 28 Nymph-haunted or Fury-haunted wood. 1948 C. Day Lewis Poems 1943–47 19 Otherwise the forest was silent: birdless; nymphless. 1972 Shooting Times & Country Mag. 1 July 15/2 The Club rules permit only dry fly and nymph fishing until the end of July. |
▪ II. nymph, v.
(nɪmf)
[f. the n., sense 3.]
Of fish, esp. trout: to feed upon insect larvæ near the surface of the water. So ˈnymphing ppl. a.
| 1963 O. Kite in C. F. Walker Compl. Fly-fisher iv. 140 A nymphing trout..can be seen making little movements, lifting slightly in the water from time to time. 1972 Shooting Times & Country Mag. 24 June 15/2 In the sheltered bay we saw the odd fish nymphing. |