hamadryad
Americannoun
plural
hamadryads, hamadryades-
Classical Mythology. a dryad who is the spirit of a particular tree.
noun
-
classical myth one of a class of nymphs, each of which inhabits a tree and dies with it
-
another name for king cobra
Etymology
Origin of hamadryad
< Latin, stem of Hamādryas wood nymph < Greek, equivalent to hama together with (cognate with same ) + dryás dryad
Vocabulary lists containing hamadryad
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“A hamadryad is a wood-nymph, also a poisonous snake in India, and an Abyssinian baboon,” Hermes points out.
From New York Times • Apr. 4, 2010
"Why, you'll look like a hamadryad, all in these wood browns!"
From A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life. by Whitney, A. D. T. (Adeline Dutton Train)
The "genius loci," the "dryad" or "hamadryad," is the counterpart of the cherubim guarding the ark and the mercyseat of the Jewish temple.
From Ancient Faiths And Modern A Dissertation upon Worships, Legends and Divinities by Inman, Thomas
Practical men are not so scarce, one would think, and I am not sure that the tree was a gainer when the hamadryad flitted and left it nothing but ship-timber.
From Among My Books Second Series by Lowell, James Russell
"Dear me, though; but that is investing the hamadryad with novel and terrible functions," exclaimed Dr. Middleton.
From The Egoist by Meredith, George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
