| 释义 |
harridan|ˈhærɪdən|
Also 8 harradan, 8–9 haridan.
[Generally supposed to be an alteration of F. haridelle an old jade of a horse (16th c. in Hatz.-Darm.); also, a gaunt ill-favoured woman (Littré); but connecting forms are not known.]
A haggard old woman; a vixen; ‘a decayed strumpet’ (J.): usually a term of vituperation.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Harridan, one that is half Whore, half Bawd. 1706Farquhar Recruit. Officer v. vi, D'ye hear, d'ye hear, you plaguy harridan, how those bullets whistle! 1727Pope Macer 24 And in four months a batter'd harridan. a1745Swift Misc. Poems (1807) 57 The nymphs with whom you first began, Are each become a harridan. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Consid. Wks. (Bohn) II. 426 This identical hussy was a tutelar spirit in one house, and a haridan in the other. 1865Public Opinion 31 Dec. 714/1 The harpy and harridan of the establishment was punished.
attrib.1820Moore Mem. (1853) III. 102 The old harridan landlady.
fig.1864Burton Scot Abr. II. 299, I heartily consign that old harridan Etiquette, with all her trumpery, to [etc.]
Hence † harriˈdanical a. nonce-wd. Obs.
1725Mrs. Pendarves in Mrs. Delany's Life & Corr. (1861) I. 118 Her old harridanical mother-in-law has stripped her house in town of all its furniture. |