sylph

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

sylph, n. [F. sylphe, m., fr. Gr. a kind of grub, beetle, or moth; -- so called by Paracelsus.].

•  An imaginary being inhabiting the air; a fairy.  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: A slender, graceful woman.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any one of several species of very brilliant South American humming birds, having a very long and deeply-forked tail; as, the blue-tailed sylph (Cynanthus cyanurus).  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

sylph, n.
1 an elemental spirit of the air.
2 a slender graceful woman or girl.
3 any humming-bird of the genus Aglaiocercus with a long forked tail.

Derivative

sylphlike adj.

Etymology

mod.L sylphes, G Sylphen (pl.), perh. based on L sylvestris of the woods + nympha nymph

DEVIL DICTIONARY

sylph

n. An immaterial but visible being that inhabited the air when the air was an element and before it was fatally polluted with factory smoke, sewer gas and similar products of civilization. Sylphs were allied to gnomes, nymphs and salamanders, which dwelt, respectively, in earth, water and fire, all now insalubrious. Sylphs, like fowls of the air, were male and female, to no purpose, apparently, for if they had progeny they must have nested in accessible places, none of the chicks having ever been seen.

THESAURUS

sylph

Ariel, Befind, Corrigan, Finnbeara, Mab, Oberon, Titania, banshee, brownie, cluricaune, dwarf, elemental, elemental spirit, elf, fairy, fairy queen, fay, gnome, goblin, gremlin, hob, imp, kobold, leprechaun, ouphe, peri, pixie, pooka, puca, pwca, salamander, sprite, sylphid, undine

ROGET THESAURUS

sylph

Jupiter

N Jupiter, god, goddess, heathen gods and goddesses, deva, Jupiter, Jove, pantheon, Allah, Bathala, Brahm, Brahma, Brahma, cloud-compeller, Devi, Durga, Kali, oread, the Great Spirit, Ushas, water nymph, wood nymph, Yama, Varuna, Zeus, Vishnu, Siva, Shiva, Krishna, Juggernath, Buddha, Isis, Osiris, Ra, Belus, Bel, Baal, Asteroth, Thor, Odin, Mumbo Jumbo, good genius, tutelary genius, demiurge, familiar, sibyl, fairy, fay, sylph, sylphid, Ariel, peri, nymph, nereid, dryad, seamaid, banshee, benshie, Ormuzd, Oberon, Mab, hamadryad, naiad, mermaid, kelpie, Ondine, nixie, sprite, denizens of the air, pixy, mythology, heathen-mythology, fairy-mythology, Lempriere, folklore, god-like, fairy-like, sylph-like, sylphic, you moonshine revelers and shades of night.