harridan
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English
Etymology
Perhaps a modification of French haridelle (“old horse, nag”).
Pronunciation
Noun
harridan (plural harridans)
- A vicious and scolding woman, especially an older one.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:shrew
- 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 13, in Vanity Fair , London: Bradbury and Evans , published 1848, →OCLC:
- Why is that tattling old harridan, Peggy O'Dowd, to make free with my name at her d—d supper-table, and advertise my engagement over the three kingdoms?
- 1916 December 29, James Joyce, chapter I, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC, page 37:
- Well there was one old lady, and a drunken old harridan she was surely, that paid all her attention to me.
Translations
vicious and scolding woman
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