nympholept

American

[nim-fuh-lept] / ˈnɪm fəˌlɛpt /

noun

a person seized with nympholepsy.

nympholept British

/ ˈnɪmfəˌlɛpt /

noun

a person afflicted by nympholepsy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of nympholept

1805–15; < Greek nymphólēptos caught by nymphs, equivalent to nýmph ( ē ) nymph + -o- -o- + lḗptos, verbid of lambánein to seize

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.

Alas, this Italy has too long swept Heroic ashes up for hour-glass sand; Of her own past, impassioned nympholept!

From The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume IV by Browning, Elizabeth Barrett

It has no aim of imitating springtime noises, but seeks to stimulate by suggestion the hearer's creative imagination, and provoke by a musical telepathy the emotions that swayed the nympholept composer.

From Contemporary American Composers Being a Study of the Music of This Country, Its Present Conditions and Its Future, with Critical Estimates and Biographies of the Principal Living Composers; and an Abundance of Portraits, Fac-simile Musical Autographs, and Compositions by Hughes, Rupert

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023