Termagant

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Termagant \Ter"ma*gant\, a.
     Tumultuous; turbulent; boisterous; furious; quarrelsome;
     scolding. -- {Ter"ma*gant*ly}, adv.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           A termagant, imperious, prodigal, profligate wench.


                                                    --Arbuthnot.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Termagant \Ter"ma*gant\, n. [OE. Trivigant, Termagant, Termagant
     (in sense 1), OF. Tervagan; cf. It. Trivigante.]
     1. An imaginary being supposed by the Christians to be a
        Moslem deity or false god. He is represented in the
        ancient moralities, farces, and puppet shows as extremely
        vociferous and tumultous. [Obs.] --Chaucer. "And
        oftentimes by Termagant and Mahound [Mahomet] swore."
        --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The lesser part on Christ believed well,
              On Termagant the more, and on Mahound. --Fairfax.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A boisterous, brawling, turbulent person; -- formerly
        applied to both sexes, now only to women.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              This terrible termagant, this Nero, this Pharaoh.
                                                    --Bale (1543).
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The slave of an imperious and reckless termagant.
                                                    --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  termagant
       n : a scolding nagging bad-tempered woman [syn: {shrew}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  80 Moby Thesaurus words for "termagant":
     Jezebel, Mafioso, Xanthippe, Young Turk, amazon, battle-ax, beast,
     beldam, berserk, berserker, bitch, bitch-kitty, boisterous, bomber,
     brute, cat, common scold, demon, devil, disorderly, dragon, fiend,
     fire-eater, firebrand, fishwife, fury, goon, gorilla, grimalkin,
     gunsel, hag, hardnose, harpy, hell-raiser, hellcat, hellhag,
     hellhound, hellion, holy terror, hood, hoodlum, hothead, hotspur,
     incendiary, killer, limitable, mad dog, madcap, monster, mugger,
     ogress, rapist, raucous, revolutionary, rowdy, rowdyish,
     rumbustious, savage, scold, she-devil, she-wolf, shrew, siren,
     spitfire, terror, terrorist, tiger, tigress, tough, tough guy,
     tumultuous, ugly customer, unruly, violent, virago, vixen,
     wild beast, wildcat, witch, wolf