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gər noun
1.
a monster in fairy tales and popular legend, usually represented as a hideous giant who feeds on human flesh.
2.
a monstrously ugly, cruel, or barbarous person.
Related forms
o·gre·ish·ly, o·grish·ly, adverb
o·gre·ism, o·grism, noun
Synonyms
2. fiend, tyrant, despot.
2. fiend, tyrant, despot.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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|
Link To ogre
00:10
ogre
is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
ogre (ˈəʊɡə) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | (in folklore) a giant, usually given to eating human flesh |
| 2. | any monstrous or cruel person |
| [C18: from French, perhaps from Latin Orcus god of the infernal regions] | |
| 'ogreish | |
| —adj | |
| 'ogress | |
| —fem n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
ogre
"man-eating giant," 1713, hogre (in a translation of a Fr. version of the Arabian Nights), from Fr. ogre, first used in Perrault's "Contes," 1697. and perhaps formed by him from It. orco "demon, monster," from L. Orcus "Hades," perhaps via an It. dialect. In Eng., more literary than colloquial. The conjecture
that it is a from Byzantine Ogur "Hungarian" or some other version of that people's name (perhaps via confusion with the bloodthirsty Huns), lacks historical evidence.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia
ogre
a hideous giant represented in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings. The word gained popularity from its use in the late 17th century by Charles Perrault, the author of Contes de ma mere l'oye (Tales of Mother Goose). Since then, ogres have appeared in many works, including "Tom Thumb"; "Hansel and Gretel," where the witch is a type of ogre because she intends to eat the children; and "Little Red Riding Hood," where the wolf resembles an ogre. The Cyclops of myth and heroic literature who devours humans is a form of ogre.
Learn more about ogre with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Example sentences
All four films cowered before the green, spindly legs of a familiar ogre.
It also turns him into an ogre with a violent streak who sees people as food.
The ogre is in the world of troll, the world of orc.
Part of the problem is that the father is too much a fairy-tale ogre.
Nearby Words
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