harpy.

1. A creature of Greek myth commonly depicted with a woman’s head or upper body and a birdlike body or wings.

2. A contemptuous label for a person represented as grasping, relentlessly demanding, or unpleasant, often directed at a woman.

3. A large forest eagle of tropical America, when harpy is used as a short name for harpy eagle.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a winged harpy
• the harpies of myth

On the page

The carved harpy held a scrap of cloth in its claws.

In the tale, the harpies descended before anyone saw the storm.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror. Forms: Singular harpy; plural harpies. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.