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Harpies

 - 4 dictionary results

Har⋅py

  [hahr-pee]
Use Harpies in a Sentence
–noun, plural -pies.
1. Classical Mythology. a ravenous, filthy monster having a woman's head and a bird's body.
2. (lowercase) a scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman; shrew.
3. (lowercase) a greedy, predatory person.
Origin:
< L Harpȳia, sing. of Harpȳiae < Gk Hárpȳiai (pl.), lit., snatchers, akin to harpázein to snatch away

Related forms:
harp⋅y⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Harpies
Har·py   (här'pē)   
n.   pl. Har·pies

  1. Greek Mythology One of several loathsome, voracious monsters with the head and trunk of a woman and the tail, wings, and talons of a bird.

  2. harpy A predatory person.

  3. harpy A shrewish woman.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

Harpies

Vicious winged beings in classical mythology, often depicted as birds with women's faces. In the story of Jason, they steal or spoil an old blind man's food, leaving a terrible odor behind them.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

harpy 
c.1375, from Gk. Harpyia (pl.), lit. "snatchers," probably related to harpazein "to snatch" (see rapid). In Homer, personification of whirlwinds and hurricanes; in Hesiod called sisters of Aello and Iris; later represented as ministers of divine vengeance: winged, clawed monsters with female heads and bodies. Metaphoric extension to "greedy person" is c.1400.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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