swan maiden


noun
  1. any of a class of folkloric maidens, in many Indo-European and Asian tales, capable of being transformed into swans, as by magic or sorcery.

Origin of swan maiden

1
First recorded in 1865–70

Words Nearby swan maiden

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use swan maiden in a sentence

  • I hope I have made clear in the last chapter the connection between the various types of the Swan-maiden group of folk-tales.

    The Science of Fairy Tales | Edwin Sidney Hartland
  • But in every variant of the Swan-maiden group, to whatsoever type it may belong, the catastrophe is inevitable from the beginning.

    The Science of Fairy Tales | Edwin Sidney Hartland
  • Had Liebrecht's theory touched only the Swan-maiden group, it would have been more convenient to discuss it in the last chapter.

    The Science of Fairy Tales | Edwin Sidney Hartland
  • In another (Hahn, No. 15) a prince finds in the forbidden fortieth a lake in which fairies of the swan-maiden species are bathing.

    Russian Fairy Tales | W. R. S. Ralston
  • If you take a jinni or a swan-maiden you can go from Cairo to Bokhara in less time than our best expresses could cover a mile.

British Dictionary definitions for swan maiden

swan maiden

noun
  1. any of a group of maidens in folklore who by magic are transformed into swans

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