(in folklore) a male marine creature, having the head, torso, and arms of a man and the tail of a fish.
a highly skilled male swimmer.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ethel Merman picked up a wine glass and gently squeezed the top.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 1, 2026
Jerry Zucker: In terms of Ethel Merman and Barbara Billingsley, we thought of a joke: "What if someone said he thinks he's Ethel Merman, and it was her?"
From Salon • Oct. 3, 2023
I would get to sing with Ethel Merman and Carol Channing.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 4, 2022
Floating in the Sacramento pool where fellow attendees of the California convention had gathered, Merman Maui summed up the importance of the community this way: “I have a new family with all these people.”
From Seattle Times • Jun. 22, 2022
“I don’t know, either. Ethel Merman sings it.”
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
