nai·ad

(nā′əd, -ăd′, nī′-)

n. pl. nai·a·des (-ə-dēz′) or nai·ads

1. Greek Mythology One of the nymphs who lived in and presided over brooks, springs, and fountains.

2. The aquatic nymph of certain insects, such as a mayfly, damselfly, or dragonfly.

3. Any of various aquatic plants of the genus Najas.

[Middle English, from Latin nāias, nāiad-, from Greek, probably from nān, to flow; see (s)nāu- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

naiad

(ˈnaɪæd)

n, pl -ads or -ades (-əˌdiːz)

1. (Classical Myth & Legend) Greek myth a nymph dwelling in a lake, river, spring, or fountain

2. (Zoology) the aquatic larva of the dragonfly, mayfly, and related insects

3. (Plants) Also called: water nymph any monocotyledonous submerged aquatic plant of the genus Naias (or Najas), having narrow leaves and small flowers: family Naiadaceae (or Najadaceae)

4. (Animals) any of certain freshwater mussels of the genus Unio. See mussel²

[C17: via Latin from Greek nāias water nymph; related to náein to flow]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

nai•ad

(ˈneɪ æd, -əd, ˈnaɪ-)

n., pl. -ads, -a•des (-əˌdiz)

1. (in Greek myth) any of a group of nymphs presiding over rivers and springs.

2. the aquatic nymph of certain insects, as the dragonfly or mayfly.

3. any of several aquatic plants of the genus Najas and family Najadaceae, having narrow opposite leaves and solitary flowers.

[1610–20; < Latin Nāïad- (s. of Nāïas) < Greek Nāïás a water nymph]

naiad

a nymph or spirit of rivers and streams.

naiad

noun water nymph, nymph, sprite, undine, Oceanid (Greek myth) The ceiling was covered in paintings of sylphs and naiads, fauns and faeries.

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Translations

naiad

[ˈnaɪæd] N (naiads or naiades (pl)) [ˈnaɪədiːz] → náyade f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

naiad

n → Najade f, → Wassernymphe f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

naiad

[ˈnaɪæd] n (Myth) → naiade f

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Hast thous not torn the Naiad from her flood, The Elfin from the green grass, and from me The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?

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Then Ulysses rejoiced at finding himself again in his own land, and kissed the bounteous soil; he lifted up his hands and prayed to the nymphs, saying, "Naiad nymphs, daughters of Jove, I made sure that I was never again to see you, now therefore I greet you with all loving salutations, and I will bring you offerings as in the old days, if Jove's redoubtable daughter will grant me life, and bring my son to manhood."

At the head of this harbour there is a large olive tree, and at no great distance a fine overarching cavern sacred to the nymphs who are called Naiads. {113} There are mixing bowls within it and wine-jars of stone, and the bees hive there.

This is the haven of the old merman Phorcys, and here is the olive tree that grows at the head of it; [near it is the cave sacred to the Naiads;] {122} here too is the overarching cavern in which you have offered many an acceptable hecatomb to the nymphs, and this is the wooded mountain Neritum."

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"Flushes faintly the brow of a naiad that stands In the spray of a fountain, whose seed-amethysts Tremble lightly a moment on bosom and hands, Then dip in their basin from bosom and wrists."

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"'Tis an enchanted spot this, I am very sure, and we should go softly, speaking low, lest we disturb the rest of a white, wet naiad, or break some spell that has cost long years of mystic weaving."

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Provided with a case of pencils, and some sheets of paper, I used to take a seat apart from them, near the window, and busy myself in sketching fancy vignettes, representing any scene that happened momentarily to shape itself in the ever-shifting kaleidoscope of imagination: a glimpse of sea between two rocks; the rising moon, and a ship crossing its disk; a group of reeds and water-flags, and a naiad's head, crowned with lotus-flowers, rising out of them; an elf sitting in a hedge-sparrow's nest, under a wreath of hawthorn- bloom

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Euryalus killed Dresus and Opheltius, and then went in pursuit of Aesepus and Pedasus, whom the naiad nymph Abarbarea had borne to noble Bucolion.

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But when the mother asked whether her poor lost child had stopped to drink out of the fountain, the naiad, with weeping eyes (for these water-nymphs had tears to spare for everybody's grief, would answer "No!" in a murmuring voice, which was just like the murmur of the stream.

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I adored indiscriminately all the tribes of nymphs and naiads, demigods and heroes, as well as the high ones of Olympus; and I am afraid that by day I dwelt in a world peopled and ruled by them, though I faithfully said my prayers at night, and fell asleep in sorrow for my sins.

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If I am ruined, how shall I fill with water the urns which my Naiads bear in their arms, or force the air into the lungs of my Tritons?

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There is the need, therefore, to boost yield of fish by eradicating the nymphs of dragonfly (naiads) that is commonly responsible for a drastic reduction in the seed of African mud cat-fish.

The predatory behaviour of nymphs of dragonfly (Africocypha varicolor) on fry of African mud catfish (Clarias gariepinus and control by skunk weed (Petivera alliacea) root-extract in aquaculture

Noun	1.	naiad - submerged aquatic plant having narrow leaves and small flowers; of fresh or brackish water water nymph genus Naias, genus Najas, Naias, Najas - sole genus of the family Naiadaceae aquatic plant, hydrophyte, hydrophytic plant, water plant - a plant that grows partly or wholly in water whether rooted in the mud, as a lotus, or floating without anchorage, as the water hyacinth
	2.	naiad - (Greek mythology) a nymph of lakes and springs and rivers and fountains Greek mythology - the mythology of the ancient Greeks water nymph - (Greek mythology) any nymph of the water