Lexic.us

Definition of Harpy

1. Noun. A malicious woman with a fierce temper.

2. Noun. (Greek mythology) vicious winged monster; often depicted as a bird with the head of a woman.

3. Noun. Any of various fruit bats of the genus Nyctimene distinguished by nostrils drawn out into diverging tubes.

4. Noun. Large black-and-white crested eagle of tropical America.

Definition of Harpy

1. n. A fabulous winged monster, ravenous and filthy, having the face of a woman and the body of a vulture, with long claws, and the face pale with hunger. Some writers mention two, others three.

Definition of Harpy

1. Noun. A fabulous winged monster, ravenous and filthy, having the face of a woman and the body of a vulture. ¹

2. Noun. A shrewish woman ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Harpy

1. a shrewish person [n -PIES]

Medical Definition of Harpy

1. 1. A fabulous winged monster, ravenous and filthy, having the face of a woman and the body of a vulture, with long claws, and the face pale with hunger. Some writers mention two, others three. "Both table and provisions vanished guite. With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard." (Milton) 2. One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner. "The harpies about all pocket the pool." (Goldsmith) 3. The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus). A large and powerful, double-crested, short-winged American eagle (Thrasaetus harpyia). It ranges from Texas to Brazil. 4. Harpy bat, an East Indian fruit bat of the genus Harpyia (especially. H. Cerphalotes), having prominent, tubular nostrils. A small, insectivorous Indian bat (Harpiocephalus harpia). 5. Harpy fly, the house fly. F. Harpie, L. Harpyia, Gr, from the root of to snatch, to seize. Gf. Rapacious. (06 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Harpy

harpooner harpooners harpooning harpoons harpress harps harpsichon harpsichons harpsichord harpsichordist

harpsichordists harpsichordlike harpsichords harpulla harpullia harpy (current term) harpy bat harpy eagle harpy eagles harpyish

harpylike harquebus harquebuse harquebuses harquebusier harquebusiers harquebusses harquebuze harquebuzes harr

Literary usage of Harpy

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge by George Ripley (1859)
"according to the stories of the Indian in tants; making due allowance for popular exaggeration, it is evident from the description of Sonnini that the harpy ..."

2. Library of the World's Best Literature: Ancient and Modern by Edward Cornelius Towne (1897)
"A MODERN harpy From the < Memoirs ' THE Princesse d'Harcourt was a sort of personage whom it is good to make known, in order better to lay bare a court ..."

3. A Collection of State Papers Relative to the War Against France Now Carrying by John Bebrett (1800)
"At one o'clock, the harpy having formed ... As foon as the damages the Fairy and harpy had ... 1 received from Captain Bazely in the harpy, ..."

4. The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge by George Ripley, Charles Anderson Dana (1883)
"harpy, a bird of prey, of the subfamily aquilina or eagles ... The harpy eagle lives in the dark forests of intertropical America, especially near the ..."

5. Outlines of the History of Art by Wilhelm Lübke, Clarence Cook (1877)
"From the harpy Monument from Xanthus. British Museum. Most important are the reliefs discovered at Xanthus in Lycia, and now to be seen in the British ..."

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