harpy
English
editEtymology
editUltimately from Middle French harpie, from Latin harpyia, from Ancient Greek Ἅρπυια (Hárpuia, literally “snatcher”), from ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “I snatch, seize”). Compare rapacious. Middle English had arpie.
Pronunciation
edit- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈhɑɹpi/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈhɑːpi/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)pi
- Hyphenation: har‧py
Noun
editharpy (plural harpies)
- (mythology) A mythological creature generally depicted as a bird-of-prey with the head of a maiden, a face pale with hunger and long claws on her hands personifying the destructive power of storm winds.
- 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:
- Both table and provisions vanish'd quite,
With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard.
- (derogatory) A shrewish woman.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:shrew
- 1927, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Outlaw of Torn[1], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:
- But her most subtle wiles proved ineffectual in ridding her, even for a moment, of her harpy jailer […]
- 2011 March 17, Toby Young, “Mumsnet isn't representative of the 'squeezed middle'. It's just a bunch of Guardian-reading, laptop-wielding harpies”, in The Telegraph[2], archived from the original on 2011-03-20:
- […] Ed Miliband has yet to come up with a definition of “the squeezed middle” that excludes anyone, but you can bet your bottom dollar he has these laptop-wielding harpies in mind.
- One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.
- c. 1772, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs. Bunbury
- The harpies about me all pocket the pool.
- c. 1772, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs. Bunbury
- The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).
- A large and powerful double-crested, short-winged American eagle (Harpia harpyja).
Derived terms
editTranslations
editfabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
|
obnoxious, shrewish woman
|
See also
editTurkmen
editPronunciation
editNoun
editharpy
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)pi
- Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)pi/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Mythological creatures
- English terms with quotations
- English derogatory terms
- en:Birds of prey
- en:Eagles
- en:People
- en:Stock characters
- Turkmen terms with IPA pronunciation
- Turkmen non-lemma forms
- Turkmen noun forms