oread

[awr-ee-ad, ohr‐]

noun

Classical Mythology. any of a group of nymphs who were the companions of Artemis.

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 of oread

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.
Confessions of Boyhood
John Albee
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

Greek myth a mountain nymph

Word Origin for oread

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

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).