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ogreish

 - 3 dictionary results

o⋅gre

  [oh-ger]
Use ogreish in a Sentence
–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.
Origin:
1705–15; < F; perh. ≪ L Orcus Orcus

Related forms:
o⋅gre⋅ish  [oh-ger-ish] , o⋅grish  [oh-grish] , adjective
o⋅gre⋅ish⋅ly, o⋅grish⋅ly, adverb
o⋅gre⋅ism, ogrism, noun

Synonyms:
2. fiend, tyrant, despot.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To ogreish
o·gre   (ō'gər)   
n.  

  1. A giant or monster in legends and fairy tales that eats humans.

  2. A person who is felt to be particularly cruel, brutish, or hideous.


[French, probably ultimately from Latin Orcus, god of the underworld.]
o'gre·ish (ō'gər-ĭsh, ō'grĭsh) adj.
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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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, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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