Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A woman regarded as noisy, scolding, or domineering.
- n. A large, strong, courageous woman.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- 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.
- n. Hence A bold, impudent, turbulent woman; a termagant: now the usual meaning.
- 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
- n. said of a woman Given to undue belligerence or ill manner at the slightest provocation; a shrew, a termagant
- n. said of a woman scolding, domineering, highly opinionated; a fishwife, a nag
- n. said of a woman rough, loud, and aggressive
- adj. pertaining to a virago
GNU Webster's 1913
- 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.
- n. Hence, a mannish woman; a bold, turbulent woman; a termagant; a vixen.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a large strong and aggressive woman
- n. a noisy or scolding or domineering woman
Etymologies
- From Latin virago ("warlike or heroic woman"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin virāgō, from vir, man; see wī-ro- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“She was, he tells us, as indeed she had been in the preceding feudal centuries, often what we should nowadays call a virago, of violent temperament, with vivid passions, broken in from childhood to all physical exercises, sharing the pleasures and dangers of the knights around her.”
“Randle Holme says that a sleeve thus tied in at the elbow was called a virago sleeve.”
“As for "virago", it may be male in Shakespeare, but it was female all the way back to Plautus.”
“Well, did you get it?" one of them, apparently the "virago" herself, asked abruptly.”
“He believed her to be simply a vulgar, interfering, brazen-faced virago.”
““An actual emanation from Satan, sent to those parts to devour souls” will trump “a vulgar, interfering, brazen-faced virago” every time.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘virago’.
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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phrontistery-v
from phrontistery.info
vaccary, vaccimulgence, vaccine, vacillate, vadelect, vade-mecum, vadimony, vadose, vafrous, vagient, vagile, vagility and 396 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 505 more...
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Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 410 more...
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harmonygritz's Cross Words
Words discovered while doing puzzles. Includes puns, e.g. taper vs. tapir.
hodad, hart, avocet, cahier, blackbird, brace, fetor, Bren, Rialto, bijou, liveried, stentor and 64 more...
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Latin
exempli gratia, deus ex machina, prolix, sisyphean, minatory, empyrean, cicatrix, demulcent, effulgence, emulsion, garum, ablative and 39 more...
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Rexicon
brazen, insipid, cuss, penchant, salacious, titillate, lurid, schlemiel, interlope, masquerade, supercilious, action-taking and 51 more...
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ancient signs
ouroboros, calypso, la sirene, Medusa, chthonic, aureole, colophon, succubus, peri, homunculus, zephyr, numinous and 56 more...
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the lascivious
orgiastic, nymph, breathless, writhe, calypso, Medusa, virago, sapphic, catamite, bisou, buss, succubus and 48 more...
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DAY8_01/11/2013
People You Wouldn't Want To Meet _AND_ Religious Words
syncretic, ecclesiastical, parochial, jaundice, jejune, bilious, choleric, Sanguine, martinet, curmudgeon, misanthrope, reprobate and 8 more...
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Scold
scold, callet, callat, catamaran, rixatrix, bard, vixen, nagger, termagant, chider, lambaster, frabber and 9 more...
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lavender ribbons of rain sang
thistledown, tendril, unborn baubles, coronule, perianth, virago, wisteria, nepenthe, nymph, freshwater, lucid, flame 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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difficult words
ordure, tatterwallop, callipygian, odious, colophon, cynosure, hardener, emollience, valetudinarian, demonym, volage, polysemantic and 280 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for virago.

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