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harpy

- 4 dictionary results

Har⋅py

  [hahr-pee]
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–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.
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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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Harpy

Har"py\, n.; pl. Harpies. [F. harpie, L. harpyia, Gr. ?, from the root of ? to snatch, to seize. Gf. Rapacious.]

1. (Gr. Myth.) 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. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus [ae]ruginosus). (b) A large and powerful, double-crested, short-winged American eagle (Thrasa["e]tus harpyia). It ranges from Texas to Brazil.

Harpy bat (Zo["o]l.) (a) An East Indian fruit bat of the genus Harpyia (esp. H. cerphalotes), having prominent, tubular nostrils. (b) A small, insectivorous Indian bat (Harpiocephalus harpia).

Harpy fly (Zo["o]l.), the house fly.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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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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