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sylph

1. An imaginary being inhabiting the air; a fairy.

2. A slender, graceful woman.

3. (Science: ornithology) Any one of several species of very brilliant south American humming birds, having a very long and deeply-forked tail; as, the blue-tailed sylph (Cynanthus cyanurus).

Origin: F. Sylphe, m, fr. Gr. A kind of grub, beetle, or moth; so called by Paracelsus.