Adjacent Words

Beldam definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BEL'DAM, n.
1. An old woman.
Spenser seems to have used the word in its true sense for good dame.
2. A hag.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an ugly evil-looking old woman [syn: hag, beldam, beldame, witch, crone]
2: a woman of advanced age [syn: beldam, beldame]

Merriam Webster's

or beldame noun Etymology: Middle English beldam grandmother, from Anglo-French bel beautiful + Middle English dam Date: 1520 an old woman

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (also beldame) archaic 1 an old woman; a hag. 2 a virago. Etymology: ME & OF bel beautiful + DAM(2), DAME

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Beldam Bel"dam Beldame Bel"dame, n. [Pref. bel-, denoting relationship + dame mother: cf. F. belledame fair lady, It. belladonna. See Belle, and Dame.] 1. Grandmother; -- corresponding to belsire. To show the beldam daughters of her daughter. --Shak. 2. An old woman in general; especially, an ugly old woman; a hag. Around the beldam all erect they hang. --Akenside.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n.; (also beldame) Hag, Jezebel, virago, vixen, fury, old hag.

Moby Thesaurus

Jezebel, Mafioso, Young Turk, bag, bat, battle-ax, beast, berserk, berserker, biddy, bitch, bitch-kitty, bomber, brute, cat, common scold, crone, dame, demon, devil, dowager, drab, dragon, fiend, fire-eater, firebrand, fishwife, frump, fury, gammer, goon, gorilla, grandam, grandmother, granny, grimalkin, gunsel, hag, hardnose, hell-raiser, hellcat, hellhag, hellhound, hellion, holy terror, hood, hoodlum, hothead, hotspur, incendiary, killer, mad dog, madcap, matriarch, matron, monster, mugger, old battle-ax, old dame, old girl, old granny, old lady, old trot, old wife, old woman, rapist, revolutionary, savage, scold, she-devil, she-wolf, shrew, siren, spitfire, termagant, terror, terrorist, tiger, tigress, tough, tough guy, trot, ugly customer, violent, virago, vixen, war-horse, wild beast, wildcat, witch, wolf