(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
But no actor had it harder than Angela Lansbury, who was in the first Broadway revival after Merman patented the role.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2025
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
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
“Ethel Merman is not in it. She’s not on Broadway right now. So we’re seeing something with Carol Channing. She’s pretty good, too. Why don’t you come along?”
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
