Home > Synonyms > Synonyms for lamia

Synonyms for lamia

Grammar : Noun
Spell : ley-mee-uh
Phonetic Transcription : ˈleɪ mi ə

Définition of lamia

Origin :
  • late 14c., from Latin lamia, from Greek lamia "female vampire," literally "swallower, lecher," from laimos "throat, gullet." Probably cognate with Latin lemures "spirits of the dead" (see lemur). Used in early translations of the Bible for screech owls and sea monsters. Sometimes also, apparently, mermaids.
  • Also kynde erreþ in som beestes wondirliche j-schape, as it fareþ in a beest þat hatte lamia, þat haþ an heed as a mayde & body as a grym fissche[;] whan þat best lamya may fynde ony man, first a flatereþ wiþ hym with a wommannes face and makeþ hym ligge by here while he may dure, & whanne he may noferþere suffice to here lecherye þanne he rendeþ hym and sleþ and eteþ hym. [John of Trevisa, translation of Bartholomew de Glanville's "De proprietatibus rerum," 1398]
  • noun witch
Example sentences :
  • But before it falls, a Lamia comes to his aid and kills his sister.
  • Extract from : « Russian Fairy Tales » by W. R. S. Ralston
  • "We had better get the Lamia in condition first," Trask said.
  • Extract from : « Space Viking » by Henry Beam Piper
  • Suppose Dunnan comes and finds nobody here but Spasso and the Lamia?
  • Extract from : « Space Viking » by Henry Beam Piper
  • The Lamia bore a coiled snake with the head, arms and bust of a woman.
  • Extract from : « Space Viking » by Henry Beam Piper
  • From the way the Space Scourge and Lamia people laughed, it evidently was.
  • Extract from : « Space Viking » by Henry Beam Piper
  • Lamia can separate the elements and give beauty and pleasure unalloyed.
  • Extract from : « Keats: Poems Published in 1820 » by John Keats
  • Ceres was the goddess of harvest, the mother of Proserpine (Lamia, i. 63, note).
  • Extract from : « Keats: Poems Published in 1820 » by John Keats
  • Compare this conception of melancholy with the passage in Lamia, i. 190-200.
  • Extract from : « Keats: Poems Published in 1820 » by John Keats
  • Lamia struck his imagination, but his heart was given to Isabella.
  • Extract from : « Keats: Poems Published in 1820 » by John Keats
  • According to some accounts she is not unlike Lamia, and has the form of a serpent.
  • Extract from : « Human Animals » by Frank Hamel

Words or expressions associated with your search

Most wanted synonyms

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019