virago

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a large, strong, and aggressivly dominating woman

   Despite the group's wishes against it, the virago has been leading the group for three years.

2. 2
   noun

   A woman given to undue belligerence or ill manner at the slightest provocation.

   Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.

Simplified etymology

Virago was borrowed from Latin, where it meant “heroic woman” or “female warrior” and was formed from vir, “man.” It first appeared in English in reference to Eve in the Latin Vulgate, but during the medieval period it acquired the disparaging sense “domineering, violent, or bad-tempered woman.” Vir also gave rise to virile and is related to the original “manliness” sense of virtue.

Borrowed from Latin virāgō (“warlike or heroic woman”, literally “manlike”).

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary