Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Virago
1.
A woman of extraordinary stature, strength, and courage; a woman who has the robust body and masculine mind of a man; a female warrior.
To arms! to arms! the fierce
virago
cries. Pope.
2.
Hence, a mannish woman; a bold, turbulent woman; a termagant; a vixen.
Virago
. . . serpent under femininity. Chaucer.
Webster 1828 Edition
Virago
VIRA'GO
,Noun.
1.
A woman of the extraordinary stature, strength and courage; a female who has the robust body and masculine mind of a man; a female warrior.To arms! to arms! the fierce virago cries.
2.
In common language, a bold, impudent, turbulent woman; a termagant.Definition 2024
virago
virago
English
Noun
virago (plural viragos or viragoes)
- A woman given to undue belligerence or ill manner at the slightest provocation; a shrew, a termagant.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- 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.
-
- A woman who is scolding, domineering, or highly opinionated; a fishwife, a nag.
- A woman who is rough, loud, and aggressive.
Quotations
1964, Joan was all Arden, grinning there, siding with her virago mother. — Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like the Sun
Translations
rough woman
Derived terms
Latin
Etymology
From vir (“man”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈwi.ra.ɡoː/, [ˈwɪ.ra.ɡoː]
Noun
virāgō f (genitive virāginis); third declension
- a warlike woman
Inflection
Third declension.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | viragō | viraginēs |
| genitive | viraginis | viraginum |
| dative | viraginī | viraginibus |
| accusative | viraginem | viraginēs |
| ablative | viragine | viraginibus |
| vocative | viragō | viraginēs |
Descendants
- French: virago
References
- virago in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- virago in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- VIRAGO in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “virago”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.