Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

oread

[awr-ee-ad, ohr‐]
See more synonyms for oread on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Classical Mythology. any of a group of nymphs who were the companions of Artemis.
Show More

Origin of oread

< Latin Orēad- (stem of Orēas) < Greek Oreiad- (stem of Oreiás), noun use of oreiás of the mountains, equivalent to órei(os) of the mountains (derivative of óros mountain) + -as feminine patronymic suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for oread

Historical Examples

  • From Princess she had changed to Oread, and they did not know her in this new mood.

    The Princess of the School

    Angela Brazil

  • I never ventured to read them to my Oread or fellow students.

  • There's a light passed from you, There's a joy outcast from you,— You have lost your Oread.

    Songs from Vagabondia

    Bliss Carman and Richard Hovey

  • All your woods and dales are sad,— You have lost your Oread.

    Songs from Vagabondia

    Bliss Carman and Richard Hovey

  • She was a child of the whole world, as the naiad is the child of the river, and the oread of the mountain.

    There and Back

    George MacDonald

British Dictionary definitions for oread

oread

noun
  1. Greek myth a mountain nymph
Show More

Word Origin

C16: via Latin from Greek Oreias, from oros mountain
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for oread

n.

1580s, from Latin Oreas (genitive Oreadis), from Greek Oreias "mountain nymph," from oros "mountain," probably from PIE root *er-/*or- "to raise" (cf. Sanskrit rsvah "high," Latin oriri "to raise;" see orchestra).

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper