harpies

Noun

harpy (plural harpies)

1. A mythological creature generally depicted as a bird-of-prey with the head of a maiden, a face pale with hunger and long claws on her hands personifying the destructive power of storm winds.
   • Both table and provisions vanish'd quite,
     With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard.1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC
2. (derogatory) A shrewish woman.
   • But her most subtle wiles proved ineffectual in ridding her, even for a moment, of her harpy jailer[…]1927, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Outlaw of Torn, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008

   Synonyms:

   battle axe, bitch, brim, brimstone, cat, cockatrice, crow, dragon, faggot, fishwife

3. One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.
   • The harpies about me all pocket the pool.c. 1772, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs. Bunbury
4. Any of a number of eagle-like birds of prey of the subfamily Harpiinae, especially the species Harpia harpyja.
5. The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).