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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A woman regarded as noisy, scolding, or domineering.
  2. n. A large, strong, courageous woman.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A woman of extraordinary stature, strength, and courage; a woman who has the robust body and masculine mind of a man; a female warrior.
  2. n. Hence A bold, impudent, turbulent woman; a termagant: now the usual meaning.
  3. n. [capitalized] [NL. (A. Newton, 1871).] A genus of Anatinæ: so called because the female has a peculiarity of the windpipe usually found only in male ducks. The species is V. punctata (or castanea) of Australia.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A large, strong, courageous or aggressive woman
  2. n. A noisy, scolding, or domineering woman
  3. adj. pertaining to a virago

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A woman of extraordinary stature, strength, and courage; a woman who has the robust body and masculine mind of a man; a female warrior.
  2. n. Hence, a mannish woman; a bold, turbulent woman; a termagant; a vixen.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a large strong and aggressive woman
  2. n. a noisy or scolding or domineering woman

Etymologies

  1. Latin virāgō, from vir, man; see wī-ro- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

  • “Calvin uses the word virissa; Dathe, after Le Clerc, the word vira; and though neither of them are strictly classical, yet are they far preferable to the term virago in the Vulgate, which Calvin justly rejects, and which means a woman of masculine character.”

    Commentary on Genesis - Volume 1

  • “This other Pallas — the word itself can be accented to have a feminine or masculine meaning in our language, but here it is close to the Latin word virago, which means ‘strong virgin’ — had been killed in a sham fight with Athena.”

    Ilium

  • “Which then said: This is now a bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; and Adam gave her a name like as her lord, and said she should be called virago, which is as much as to say as made of a man, and is a name taken of a man.”

    The Golden Legend, vol. 1

  • “Anne Royall 1769 – 1854 a hero of feminism… but in her day… she was “called a virago and a monomaniac” - now that such things are “normalized” we can celebrate her without a concern.”

    Prager on the 2010 election

  • “As for "virago", it may be male in Shakespeare, but it was female all the way back to Plautus.”

    languagehat.com: TERMAGANT.

  • “He believed her to be simply a vulgar, interfering, brazen-faced virago.”

    A dollop from Trollope | clusterflock

  • ““An actual emanation from Satan, sent to those parts to devour souls” will trump “a vulgar, interfering, brazen-faced virago” every time.”

    A dollop from Trollope | clusterflock

  • “He paid two dollars and a half a month rent for the small room he got from his Portuguese landlady, Maria Silva, a virago and”

    Chapter 23

  • “By the time Raushanara emerges dramatically from Mogul history as more than a mere name, it is too late to find out how she evolved; in the climactic autumn of 1657 she will be forty years old, rigidly hardened into a scheming and ruthless virago determined to rule the Mogul harem.”

    Simon & Schuster: Shadow Princess

  • “As the avenging virago charged on, she screamed adjectives that Ellen had never heard in her life, but she was too late.”

    Simon & Schuster: The Dressmaker

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  • Casey "'Termagant' he moaned after her. 'Shrew! Harridan! Alright, alright, you win, you, you...uh...virago, you spitfire." From Perdido Street Station by China Meiville. Sep 18, 2011
  • Noelle Knight "'And is he? He has the gall to tell this virago Debbie that Sookie is good in bed.'" -Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris Feb 5, 2011
  • reesetee Not to worry, virago. I think the older meaning is something like "a woman of strength or spirit." As John explained (somewhere here), the definition that pops up near the word is its most common usage. Don't know offhand how or when it shifted from one meaning to the other, though.

    It's a nice handle, I think. :-) Nov 3, 2007
  • virago Hmm. I always understood it to mean maiden warrior. I guess need to do more research - and perhaps change my handle. Nov 3, 2007
  • brtom "A hoarse virago retorts."
    Joyce, Ulysses, 15 Jan 28, 2007

‘virago’ has been looked up 2058 times, loved by 11 people, added to 81 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 10.