Dictionary

sylphlike en · ADJ

Pronunciation

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Etymology

Etymology tree English sylph Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-West Germanic *-līk Old English -līċ Middle English -like English -like English sylphlike From sylph + -like.

Meanings

1. Resembling (that of) a sylph; slender and graceful.
   • Soon advancing through the hall, he saw the sylphlike figure of the lovely Olympia […] 1811, Percy Bysshe Shelley, chapter IV, in St. Irvyne:
   • Here we see a few of the 48 diminutive hopefuls who showed up that day, awaiting their turn to impress the judges with a high instep or a particularly sylphlike extension. 2001 December 2, “Emily Eakin, The Way We Live Now: 12-02-01: Phenomenon; Tiny Dancers”, in The New York Times:
   • Once Tex had said to me, very sister-to-sister, “Aren’t we mad, we gay boys, starving ourselves to sylphlike fragility, all so we can attract a straight cop with a beer belly?” 1988, Edmund White, chapter 4, in The Beautiful Room is Empty, New York: Vintage International, published 1994:
   • […] the thin robes Floating like light clouds ’twixt our gaze and heaven; The many-twinkling feet so small and sylphlike, Suggesting the more secret symmetry Of the fair forms which terminate so well— 1821, Lord Byron, Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, act IV, lines 57–61:
   • Arm's length from her he saw the sylphlike grace of her girlish body 1927, William Byron Mowery, Pirates Of The Muskeg:

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