† wassermann.
Obsolete.
A fabled sea monster partly in the form of a man, supposed to destroy ships.
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the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > hybrid creature or monster > [noun] > human hybrid > mermaid or merman > merman
seaman1569
wasserman1590
merman1601
wassera1637
marmennill1805
waterman1833
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. xii. sig. Aav The griesly Wasserman, that makes his game The flying ships with swiftnes to pursew.
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares D 2 b [The devils] entred and inhabited the Sea-monsters, such as the Whale, the Grampoys, the Wasserman, whom they haue suborned and inspyred to lye in wayte for Shipswrack.
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 50 The greater giants of Russia & Island, as the whale, the sea horse, the Norse, the wasserman, the Dolphin the Grampoys.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1923; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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