| mermaid | A fabled marine creature, typically represented as having the upper part like that of a woman, and the lower like a fish; a sea nymph, sea woman, or woman fish. Chaucer uses this word as equivalent to the siren of the ancients. Mermaid fish, a European spatangoid sea urchin (Echinocardium cordatum) having some resemblance to a skull. <botany> Mermaid weed, an aquatic herb with dentate or pectinate leaves (Proserpinaca palustris and P. Pectinacea). Origin: AS. Mere lake, sea. See Mere lake, and maid. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| mermaid deformity | Union of the legs with partial or complete fusion of the feet. See: sympus. Synonym: mermaid deformity, symmelia. Origin: L. Siren, G. Seiren, a siren (05 Mar 2000) |