termagant

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“
"And the woman was a termagant -- at least so I've been told.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A quarrelsome, scolding woman; a shrew.
  2. adjective Shrewish; scolding.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • She was to be Lady Dilke of Maxstoke Castle and a shrewd termagant, mother of two sons who sided, one with the Commonwealth, the other with the King. —  The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Vol. 2
  • A Flinders may in that case have woven silk stockings for the Royal termagant, and Lord Coke's pair, which were darned so often that none of the original fabric remained, may have come from their loom. —  The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders
  • “Ha!” shrieked the termagant, as she wrenched off her handkerchief. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Captain Canot, or Twenty Years of an African Slaver, by Brantz Mayer and Theodore Canot.
  • Yet it is oftentimes too late with some of you young, termagant, flashy sinners--you have all the guilt of the intention, and none of the pleasure of the practice--'tis true you are so eager in pursuit of the temptation, that you save the devil the trouble of leading you into it. —  The Comedies of William Congreve Volume 1 [of 2]
  • You're drunk The General very placidly listened to the old termagant, and merely remarked, "It was too cold to go out of the house just then; he guessed he'd warm himself first Get out, quick," said she, opening the door. —  Incidents of the War: Humorous, Pathetic, and Descriptive
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From Middle English Termagaunt, imaginary Muslim deity portrayed as a violent and overbearing character in medieval mystery plays, alteration of Tervagant, from Old French.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also Termagaunt, also Turmagant, also Ternagaunt; from Middle English Termagant, Termagaunt, from Old French Tervagant, Tervagan, *Tarvagant, also *Trivagant, Tryvigant, from Italian Trivigante, Trivagante, Tervagante, etc.; prob. a name of Arabic origin brought over by the Crusaders. Of the various theories invented to explain the name, one refers it, in the Italian form Trivagante, to lunar mythology, from Latin tres (tri-), three, + vagan(t-)s, present participle of vagare, wander; i. e. the moon wandering under the three names of Selene (or Luna) in heaven, Artemis (or Diana) on the earth, and Persephone (Proserpine) in the lower world.
 

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/ˈtərməgənt/
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