Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An old woman, especially one who is considered ugly.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Grandmother: corresponding to belsire, grandfather: sometimes applied to a great-grandmother.
- n. An old woman in general, especially an ugly old woman; a hag.
- n. [A forced use of the F. belle dame.] Fair dame or lady.
Wiktionary
- n. alternative spelling of beldame.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Grandmother; -- corresponding to belsire.
- n. An old woman in general; especially, an ugly old woman; a hag.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an ugly evil-looking old woman
- n. a woman of advanced age
Etymologies
- Middle English, grandmother : bel, indicating respect (from Old French bel, fine, from Latin bellus; see deu-2 in Indo-European roots) + dame, lady; see dame.
Examples
“In the book, there’s a stark difference between Other Neighbors’ apartments before and after the beldam is trying to seduce Coraline.”
“Other Mom turns out to be a ferocious "beldam" who wants to entrap Coraline in this world, as she's done with other children.”
“I know Coraline was the main hero, mostly defeating the beldam in the Other World.”
“I (and JL) know that in the book Coraline tricks the beldam in to opening the door because she already has discovered the location of her parents.”
“It amused Durjik to observe Tomalak ignoring the young legislator in favor of responding to the bloviations of Senator Eleret, the beldam from the Remestrel clan.”
Simon & Schuster: Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire
“Through this door the modern democrat arrives to the place where he is willing to allot two able-bodied men and two fine horses to the task of helping one wizened beldam to take the morning air.”
“That was the official aspect, of course; the important thing was the delightful surprise that the old beldam of Jhansi was as prime a goer as ever wriggled a hip, and just ripe for my kind of diplomacy.”
“You did, did you?" says I. "Does every Briton in Jhansi leap to attention when this beldam snaps her fingers, then?”
“Why, they strike them, I suppose!" says the beldam.”
“The beldam caught her cue readily and by innuendo, without giving Lady”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘beldam’.
-
Unsavory characters
absconder, aretaloger, arriviste, avaunter, bamboozler, bandit, banger, barbarian, barmecide, barrator, beldam, blatherskite and 190 more...
-
briwref's list
defalcation, macerate, beldam, nescience, ochlocracy, bibelot, estivate, spatulated, introversive, mastoidal, belletristic, objurgation and 108 more...
-
Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.