wood nymph

noun

(especially in legend) a nymph of the woods; dryad.
a brown satyr butterfly, Minois alope, having a broad yellow band and black-and-white eyespots on each front wing.
any of several Central and South American hummingbirds, especially of the genus Thalurania.

wood nymph

First recorded in 1570–80

The golden arrow he shot into the heart of Apollo; the leaden, into the heart of a young and graceful wood nymph, Daphne.

Perhaps we shall awaken a wood nymph and teach her to become a mortal maid.

She would never understand this talk of forgetting that one was not a wood nymph.

Over these they laid the bark, and covered the whole with green boughs, till a bower was formed worthy of a wood nymph.

In an instant, I sprang across a hedge, and fled towards the little valley, light as a wood-nymph flying from a satyr.

April 19, 2024tortuous

[tawr-choo-uhs ]

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