dryad

[ drahy-uhd, -ad ]
See synonyms for dryad on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural dry·ads, dry·a·des [drahy-uh-deez]. /ˈdraɪ əˌdiz/. (often initial capital letter)Classical Mythology.
  1. a deity or nymph of the woods.

Origin of dryad

1
1545–55; extracted from Greek Dryádes, plural of Dryás, derivative of drŷ(s) tree, oak

Other words from dryad

  • dry·ad·ic [drahy-ad-ik], /draɪˈæd ɪk/, adjective

Words Nearby dryad

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use dryad in a sentence

  • "It should have opened and imprisoned you, as a truant dryad," said he.

    Ernest Linwood | Caroline Lee Hentz
  • Then in a flash Rhcus remembered his promise to the dryad, and throwing away his dice, he hurried to the trysting-place.

  • dryad spun about and threw her head far on one side to scan the whole bare room.

    Once to Every Man | Larry Evans
  • "You can't help not being a dryad," she said, and now she smiled, and her smile transformed her face as sunlight does a landscape.

  • You can almost fancy it some dryad decked for her bridal, in maidenly day-dreaming too lovely to last.

    The Soul of the Far East | Percival Lowell

British Dictionary definitions for dryad

dryad

/ (ˈdraɪəd, -æd) /


nounplural -ads or -ades (-əˌdiːz)
  1. Greek myth a nymph or divinity of the woods

Origin of dryad

1
C14: from Latin Dryas, from Greek Druas, from drus tree

Derived forms of dryad

  • dryadic (draɪˈædɪk), adjective

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