1. a slender, graceful woman or girl.
2. (in folklore) one of a race of supernatural beings supposed to inhabit the air.
< Neo-Latin sylphēs (plural), coined by Paracelsus; apparently blend of sylva (variant spelling of Latin silva forest) and Greek nýmphē (dictionary.com)
"Raving mad though I am about most of Max Vulpino's work, I think that in his ballet Torn Wings and Faux Pas he's gone too far - with sylphs squawking like a gaggle of goosed Valley Girls and ostriches of a certain age on point and attempting entrechats."
- Karen Elizabeth Gordon, Out of the Loud Hound of Darkness: A Dictionarrative
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