Hypertext Webster Gateway: "nymph"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Nymph \Nymph\, n. [L. nympha nymph, bride, young woman, Gr. ?:
cf. F. nymphe. Cf. {Nuptial}.]
1. (Class. Myth.) A goddess of the mountains, forests,
meadows, or waters.
Where were ye, nymphs, when the remorseless deep
Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas ?
--Milton.
2. Hence: A lovely young girl; a maiden; a damsel.
Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remembered.
--Shak.
3. (Zo["o]l.) The pupa of an insect; a chrysalis.
4. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of a subfamily ({Najades}) of
butterflies including the purples, the fritillaries, the
peacock butterfly, etc.; -- called also {naiad}.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
nymph
n 1: (classical mythology) a minor nature goddess usually
depicted as a beautiful maiden; "the ancient Greeks
believed that nymphs inhabited forests and bodies of
water"
2: a larva of an insect with incomplete metamorphosis (as the
dragonfly or mayfly)
3: a voluptuously beautiful young woman [syn: {houri}]
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