Definitions
Wiktionary
- n. A fabulous winged monster, ravenous and filthy, having the face of a woman and the body of a vulture.
- n. A shrewish woman.
- n. One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.
- n. The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).
- n. A large and powerful double-crested, short-winged American eagle (Thrasaetus harpyia).
Etymologies
- French harpie, Latin harpyia, from Ancient Greek root of "to snatch, to seize". Compare rapacious. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“May 31st, 2008 1: 39 pm ET thank god this harpy is almost history ....”
“Kettle Belly spoke rapidly in a tongue that meant nothing to Whandall, but he thought he heard the word harpy.”
“A harpy is a nightmare image out of Greek Mythology.”
Think Progress » Matalin Defends Coulter’s Attack on 9/11 Widows
“This screwball harpy is out to change America, and trust me – most of the people posting on this site will not be welcomed in her America.”
“Marge, at this point, exhausted and slightly disoriented, said, "Who are you calling a harpy?”
“She used gossip and lies and she behaved like the stereotypical "harpy" -- she didn't just embarrass herself, she embarrassed all feminists and the movement itself.”
“I mean Leah is described as a harpy in Eclipse, Disney people are too happy and princess like to play that.”
“A harpy is a vicious monster hybrid of bird and lady.”
“In a climactic scene in the third book, Lyra comes to grief when she spins a fantastic tale to a mythological creature called a harpy who is guarding the underworld.”
“She left out the classical Anglo-Saxon put-down of "harpy", though.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘harpy’.
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
money cowrie, bedraggle, omphalos, ineluctable, postprandial, bladderwrack, modality barnacle..., loofah, shipworm, cither, embattle, Malachi and 503 more...
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Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
Mythical Beings
mermaid, manticore, fairy, brownie, dwarf, elf, leprechaun, selkie, gremlin, puck, pixie, genie and 97 more...
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The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
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LIT - Iliad - key words and protagonists
depict, delegation, daughter, Dardanus, Dardanian, Dardan, Hellespont, cupbearer, Crete, Cretan, Creon, copulate and 713 more...
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truman486's list
Masterbatory Aids
ensorcelled, scintilla, maudlin, lugubrious, frisson, praxis, copasetic, crotch, corollary, bandy, undulating, anthropomorphic and 65 more...
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Mythological Beastiary
abada, therianthropy, ba, bahamut, balaur, banshee, behemoth, bendigeidfran, bluecap, centaur, bugbear, Ceryneian Hind and 14 more...
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My Landlady Is A ...
She cut off my internet access for a week ... so I missed a week of Wordie :-( You now know she is evil incarnate so please slander her ruthlessly on this list.
harpy, tyrant, net nazi, vindictive beanco..., pinheaded clodpole, vixenish viper, truculent hellhound, nappy-headed 'ho, smellsmock, barbed bittern, fustian fustilugs, clinchpoop and 12 more...
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The Journalists' Vocabulary Challenge
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/journalism/vocab.html
prosaic, penultimate, obstreperous, egregious, eleemosynary, fulsome, amorphous, arcane, oleaginous, atavistic, fecund, putative and 89 more...
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difficult words
ordure, tatterwallop, callipygian, odious, colophon, cynosure, hardener, emollience, valetudinarian, demonym, volage, polysemantic and 260 more...
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135 Offensive Shakespearean Terms
135 Offensive Shakespearean Terms =)
artless, baggage, barnacle, bawdy, beef-witted, bladder, boil-brained, bootless, brazen, cankerblossom, churlish, churrish and 123 more...
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Verba Dilecta
delectable, notate, pauciloquy, paucity, pauciloquent, paucify, interscapilium, uropygium, inferna, nota, equipollent, prepollent and 677 more...
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Vampire Words
Words that make me think of Vampire: The Requiem
torpor, torpid, amaranth, vitae, embrace, ventrue, toreador, masquerade, dominate, nightmare, majesty, dread and 103 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (H)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
haberdashery, hailstone, halcyon, halibut, halo, hamadryad, hammock, harangue, harbour, harebell, harlequin, harp and 104 more...
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wunderkammer's Words
smarmy, bubkes, elucidate, togs, aeolian, carp, kibosh, bosky, ramshackle, mange, harpy, effervesce and 163 more...
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colleen's words ii
sibilant, sundry, spindle, distaff, device, mortar, pestle, scythe, flail, thresh, frown, elementary and 495 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for harpy.
brtom Leanjawed harpy, hard woman at a bargain, her bonnet awry.
Joyce, Ulysses, 6 Dec 31, 2006