harpy
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English
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Harpy%2C_Melchior_Lorch%2C_1582.jpg/220px-Harpy%2C_Melchior_Lorch%2C_1582.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Circus_aeruginosus_Valencia_2.jpeg/220px-Circus_aeruginosus_Valencia_2.jpeg)
Etymology
[edit]Ultimately from Middle French harpie, from Latin harpyia, from Ancient Greek Ἅρπυια (Hárpuia, literally “snatcher”), from ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “I snatch, seize”). Compare rapacious. Middle English had arpie.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈhɑɹpi/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈhɑːpi/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)pi
- Hyphenation: har‧py
Noun
[edit]harpy (plural harpies)
- (mythology) A mythological creature generally depicted as a bird-of-prey with the head of a maiden, a face pale with hunger and long claws on her hands personifying the destructive power of storm winds.
- 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:
- Both table and provisions vanish'd quite,
With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard.
- (derogatory) A shrewish woman.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:shrew
- 1927, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Outlaw of Torn[1], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:
- But her most subtle wiles proved ineffectual in ridding her, even for a moment, of her harpy jailer […]
- 2011 March 17, Toby Young, “Mumsnet isn't representative of the 'squeezed middle'. It's just a bunch of Guardian-reading, laptop-wielding harpies”, in The Telegraph[2], archived from the original on 2011-03-20:
- […] Ed Miliband has yet to come up with a definition of “the squeezed middle” that excludes anyone, but you can bet your bottom dollar he has these laptop-wielding harpies in mind.
- One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.
- c. 1772, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs. Bunbury
- The harpies about me all pocket the pool.
- c. 1772, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs. Bunbury
- The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).
- A large and powerful double-crested, short-winged American eagle (Harpia harpyja).
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
|
obnoxious, shrewish woman
|
See also
[edit]Turkmen
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]harpy
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)pi
- Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)pi/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Mythological creatures
- English terms with quotations
- English derogatory terms
- en:Birds of prey
- en:Eagles
- en:People
- en:Stock characters
- Turkmen terms with IPA pronunciation
- Turkmen non-lemma forms
- Turkmen noun forms