Crossword clues for termagant
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Termagant \Ter"ma*gant\, a. Tumultuous; turbulent; boisterous; furious; quarrelsome; scolding. -- Ter"ma*gant*ly, adv.
A termagant, imperious, prodigal, profligate wench.
--Arbuthnot.
Termagant \Ter"ma*gant\, n. [OE. Trivigant, Termagant, Termagant (in sense 1), OF. Tervagan; cf. It. Trivigante.]
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An imaginary being supposed by the Christians to be a Mohammedan 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.The lesser part on Christ believed well, On Termagant the more, and on Mahound.
--Fairfax. -
A boisterous, brawling, turbulent person; -- formerly applied to both sexes, now only to women.
This terrible termagant, this Nero, this Pharaoh.
--Bale (1543).The slave of an imperious and reckless termagant.
--Macaulay.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1500, "violent, overbearing person" (especially of women), from Teruagant, Teruagaunt (c.1200), name of a fictitious Muslim deity appearing in medieval morality plays, from Old French Tervagant, a proper name in Chanson de Roland (c.1100), of uncertain origin. As an adjective from 1590s.
Wiktionary
a. quarrelsome and scolding or censorious; shrewish. n. 1 A quarrelsome, scolding woman, especially one who is old and shrewish. 2 (context obsolete English) A boisterous, brawling, turbulent person, whether male or female.
WordNet
n. a scolding nagging bad-tempered woman [syn: shrew]
Wikipedia
In medieval Europe, Termagant was the name given to a god which Christians wrongly believed Muslims worshipped, represented in the mystery plays as a violent overbearing personage.
The word is also used in modern English to mean a violent, overbearing, turbulent, brawling, quarrelsome woman; a virago, shrew, vixen. In the past the word could be applied to any person or thing personified, not just a woman.
Usage examples of "termagant".
A man pitted against a Termagant stood no chance, for the scales warded off bullets as well as any blow the man might have strength enough to deal.
Cutlasses were useless against dragon-scale, but the pincers of the Blue Horrors, the Termagant daggers, the axes, swords, fangs and claws of the Fiends, did bloody work against the Heavy Troopers.
Instead of the sweet bliss of her body against his in their bed, he lay next to a yapping, harping termagant who never let up.
The steward caught her plump elbow and, in spite of the fact that she outweighed him by a goodly margin, turned the termagant skillfully toward the stairs.
He supposed he should count himself fortunate the termagant had not shot him.
I do know now that her friend, the termagant, would defend her to the death.
It was pure madness to gamble his money on a wench who was obviously a termagant of the first order, and, in addition, had evidently committed some sin which had rendered her odious to her husband.
He was taking wise precautions in view of past experiences with his termagant relative.
Moreover, she had detected in her manner and voice the essence of a refined termagant, and there was one thing sure, should there .
She was the termagant, domineering Isabelle that he remembered, out to make him fall in with her wishes, to frighten him into doing her will.
Strange that the termagant winds should scold The Christmas Eve so bitterly!
Rouncival and his stud-groom could almost have sworn to the big slashing brown mare, the image of the long-lost celebrity Termagant, with the same crooked blaze down the face, the same legs, the same high croup and peculiar way of carrying her head.
Such were not infrequent in that quarter, for one of the women who lived there was a termagant, and the door of her cottage was generally open.
Carcolo turned away, pretended to watch a pair of Termagants exercising with wooden scimitars.
Ervis Carcolo, we are able to deploy a horde of Termagants, with sufficient Striding Murderers and Long-horned Murderers.