sylphlike
adjEtymology From sylph + -like.
1
Resembling (that of) a sylph; slender and graceful.
- Soon advancing through the hall, he saw the sylphlike figure of the lovely Olympia […]1811, Percy Bysshe Shelley, chapter IV, in St. Irvyne:
- […] the thin robes Floating like light clouds ’twixt our gaze and heaven; The many-twinkling feet so small and sylphlike, Suggesting the more secret symmetry Of the fair forms which terminate so well—1821, Lord Byron, Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, act IV, lines 57–61:
3 more examples
- Arm's length from her he saw the sylphlike grace of her girlish body1927, William Byron Mowery, Pirates Of The Muskeg:
- Once Tex had said to me, very sister-to-sister, “Aren’t we mad, we gay boys, starving ourselves to sylphlike fragility, all so we can attract a straight cop with a beer belly?”1988, Edmund White, chapter 4, in The Beautiful Room is Empty, New York: Vintage International, published 1994:
- Here we see a few of the 48 diminutive hopefuls who showed up that day, awaiting their turn to impress the judges with a high instep or a particularly sylphlike extension.2001 December 2, “Emily Eakin, The Way We Live Now: 12-02-01: Phenomenon; Tiny Dancers”, in The New York Times: