apsaras अप्सरस्

Definition: ās- ([ etc.]) , or ap-sar/ā- ([AV. etc.]), f. (fr. 2. /ap-+ sṛ-),"going in the waters or between the waters of the clouds", a class of female divinities (sometimes called"nymphs";they inhabit the sky, but often visit the earth;they are the wives of the gandharva-s(q.v)and have the faculty of changing their shapes at will;they are fond of the water;one of their number, rambhā-, is said to have been produced at the churning of the ocean).