mer-comb. form¹

1866 Round Table 7 Apr. 209/3 Do the merbabies their teeth cut on coral?

1894 J. Geddie Fringes of Fife 150 The radiant young rogue,..fearless as a Mer-Baby, grins at us..from his rocking craft.

1905 F. H. Burnett Little Princess v. 63 The little white Mer-babies swimming about.

2017 Countryman Sept. 77/2 A seductive mermaid..enticed from her watery habitat by the divine singing... One person leaves, another arrives—such as someone with a merbaby.

1849 M. C. Clarke Kit Bam's Adventures xii. 355 Pleasant, frolicsome little creatures they were—these Mer-children!

1879 Portfolio 75/2 The Dead Mer-Baby, representing two graceful children (nude) discovering a dead mer-child on the sea-shore.

1881 Proc. Soc. Antiquaries 2nd Ser. 8 533 Seal... Subject, a mermaid holding her merchild to her breast.

1927 J. Masefield Midnight Folk 183 Look, here come the merchildren, playing Touch and Tag.

1941 H. Belloc Places (1942) 66 The little Merchild of the Public Docks.

2013 G. K. Coppola Both Ends of Rainbow xvii. 73 I was a mer-child, loving the water so much.

1894 Pall Mall Gaz. 2 549 Change, O change him [sc. a drowned dog] to a mer-dog!

1912 Boys' & Girls' Bookshelf III. 41/2 I looked down and saw the mer-dog. It was a little like our land-dogs, but even more horrid. It was of a pale greenish color.

a1973 J. R. R. Tolkien Roverandom (1998) 63 She was talking to a white mer-dog who came out now,..growling and grumbling and beating the water with his little web-feet.

1995 A. Fienberg Madeline the Mermaid (2010) 1 Madeline lived in a conch shell with her merdog called Byron and her mercat called Bella.

1846 Colburn's United Service Mag. June 162 The gravest of the ancients talked of mer-folk, and knew well what they were, otherwise we had never heard of their sirens, and nereids, and tritons.

1863 S. Baring-Gould Iceland xx. 349 With regard to the appearance of the merfolk in other countries, I may state [etc.].

1973 Country Life 29 Nov. 1765 Pairs of putti, or rather merfolk with fishtails.

2001 D. J. Conway Wicca xiv. 105 European folklore says that Mer-folk are human-looking down to the hips, with large flukes on a fish's tail.

1814 R. Jamieson in Illustr. Northern Antiq. 281 There he found the Mer-Lady Sleeping on the white sand.

1871 C. F. Guernsey Merman & Figurehead ii. 28 The merladies are very beautiful. They have long, golden hair, and have often been seen sitting on the rocks by the seaside.

1906 Bookman Oct. 155/2 New people keep crawling up over the sides of the ship every day, like merladies and gentlemen, and all very cunning.

2005 P. Saxton Bk. Mermaids 10 Individual villages have a Mer-Lord or Mer-Lady watching over the safety and comfort of the villagers.

1620 Hic Mulier A 4 b These Meare-maids or rather Meare-Monsters.

1851 ‘A Wrangler’ Poems of Early Years 119 From the grave, from the gulf and the mer-monster's gyve Has his valour deliver'd the hero alive.

1980 R. Meyers World of Fantasy Films iv. 159/1 ‘The Bermuda Depths’..concerned a mermaid, a mermonster, and a giant turtle, in a hokey love story and a murky plot.

2009 A. Bryant Great Scavenger Hunt xii. 144 (heading) Mermonster from the Blue Lagoon.

1824 C. Lamb Let. 10 Aug. (1935) II. 434 A baker, who has the finest collection of marine monsters in ten sea counties,—sea dragons, ploypi, mer-people, most fantastic.

1882 Spectator 16 Dec. 1618 The idea of the ‘child of earth..’ carried away to consort with Mer-people is as old as Hylas.

1964 J. P. Clark Three Plays 46 Daughter of Umaloku, the delight of God and pride of unguents, Who the merpeople desire, I come Ahead of the snail and tortoise.

2007 Weekly World News 6 Aug. 11/1 While studying exotic marine life in the lowest depths of the Indian Ocean, marine biologist Vincent Harbor encountered a merpeople colony unlike any ever seen.

1822 S. Hibbert Descr. Shetland Islands 570 The Shetlander's love for his merwife was unbounded.

1851 B. Thorpe Northern Mythol. II. iii. 171 Out in Nordstrand there dwells a Merwife, who once drove her cattle up on the sea-shore.

1928 A. S. Rappoport Superstitions of Sailors viii.199 Once, when out on the lake he had fallen into danger, a merwife came to his aid.

2013 L. Jensen Alias Hook xxvii. 260 The merwife sighs, scratches thoughtfully at her springy, silver-gray head.