harpy

harpy

English

woodcut of a harpy (1)

Circus aeruginosus (4)

Etymology

Ultimately from Middle French harpie, from Latin harpyia, from Ancient Greek Ἅρπυια (Hárpuia, literally “snatcher”), from ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “I snatch, seize”). Compare rapacious. Middle English had arpie.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹpi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːpi/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)pi
• Hyphenation: har‧py

Noun

harpy (plural harpies)

1. (mythology) A mythological creature generally depicted as a bird-of-prey with the head of maiden, a face pale with hunger and long claws on her hands personifying the destructive power of storm winds.
   • 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398:

     Both table and provisions vanish'd quite,
     With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard.

2. (derogatory) A shrewish woman.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:shrew

   • 1927, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Outlaw of Torn‎, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:

     But her most subtle wiles proved ineffectual in ridding her, even for a moment, of her harpy jailer […]

   • 2011 March 17, Toby Young, “Mumsnet isn't representative of the 'squeezed middle'. It's just a bunch of Guardian-reading, laptop-wielding harpies”, in The Telegraph‎, archived from the original on 2011-03-20:

     […] Ed Miliband has yet to come up with a definition of “the squeezed middle” that excludes anyone, but you can bet your bottom dollar he has these laptop-wielding harpies in mind.

3. One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.
   • c. 1772, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs. Bunbury

     The harpies about me all pocket the pool.

4. The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).
5. A large and powerful double-crested, short-winged American eagle (Harpia harpyja).

Derived terms

• harpy bat
• harpy fly
• harpy eagle

Translations

fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman

Asturian: harpía f Bulgarian: ха́рпия f (hárpija) Catalan: harpia f Czech: harpyje f Danish: harpy c Dutch: harpij (nl) f Esperanto: harpio Finnish: harpyija (fi) French: harpie (fr) f Galician: harpía (gl) f German: Harpyie (de) f Greek: άρπυια (el) f (árpyia) Ancient: Ἅρπυια f (Hárpuia) Hebrew: הַרְפִּיָּה‎ f (hárpiya) Hungarian: hárpia (hu) Irish: airp f Italian: arpia (it) Polish: harpia f Portuguese: harpia (pt) f Romanian: harpie (ro) Russian: га́рпия (ru) f (gárpija) Spanish: arpía (es) f, harpía (es) f Swedish: harpya (sv) c

obnoxious, shrewish woman

Asturian: harpía f Catalan: harpia f Danish: furie c Dutch: harpij (nl) f Finnish: harppu (fi) French: harpie (fr) f, chipie (fr) f, rosse (fr) f Galician: harpía (gl) f German: Drachen (de) m Hungarian: hárpia (hu) Portuguese: harpia (pt) f Romanian: scorpie (ro) f Russian: га́рпия (ru) f (gárpija), меге́ра (ru) f (megéra), сте́рва (ru) f (stérva) Scottish Gaelic: badhbh f, galla (gd) f Spanish: arpía (es) f

See also

• harridan

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Turkmen

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑrpɯ/

Noun

harpy

1. definite accusative of harp