oread

plural oreads · plural oreades

1. Greekhuman sciencesA mountain nymph; an anthropomorphic appearance of the spirit of a mountain.

   Under the various appellations of Oreades, Dryades, Naiades, Limniades, Nereides, they dwelt in mountains, trees, springs, lakes, the sea, where, in caverns and grottos, they passed a life whose occupations resembled those of females of human race.

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth

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   The imprisoned ringlets are emancipated; 'fresh as the oread from the forest fountain,' you descend—you breathe the incense of the chocolate—not more I hope—and grow conversational and confidential over the green tea, which, with a fragrance beyond all the violets of April, rises to your lip, 'giving and taking odours.'

   1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 92