"beldame" meaning in English

See beldame in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈbɛldəm/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-beldame.wav Forms: beldames [plural]
Rhymes: -ɛldəm Etymology: From late (1400–1450) Middle English bel (“good”), from Old French bel (“beautiful”) + Latin bellus + dam (“mother”), Middle English dame. Etymology templates: {{der|en|enm|bel||good}} Middle English bel (“good”), {{der|en|fro|bel||beautiful}} Old French bel (“beautiful”), {{der|en|la|bellus|}} Latin bellus, {{der|en|enm|dame}} Middle English dame Head templates: {{en-noun}} beldame (plural beldames)
  1. (obsolete) A grandmother. Tags: obsolete
    Sense id: en-beldame-en-noun-vAIVWnkq
  2. (now archaic) An old woman, particularly an ugly one. Tags: archaic Categories (topical): Age, Appearance, Female family members, Women Synonyms (ugly woman): crone, hag, harridan
    Sense id: en-beldame-en-noun-~vEMsuEo Disambiguation of Age: 0 100 Disambiguation of Appearance: 6 94 Disambiguation of Female family members: 13 87 Disambiguation of Women: 1 99 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 2 entries, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 15 85 Disambiguation of Pages with 2 entries: 10 90 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 10 90 Disambiguation of 'ugly woman': 0 100
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: beldam

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "grandmother",
      "word": "belsire"
    },
    {
      "sense": "grandmother",
      "word": "belchild"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "bel",
        "4": "",
        "5": "good"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English bel (“good”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "bel",
        "4": "",
        "5": "beautiful"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French bel (“beautiful”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "bellus",
        "4": ""
      },
      "expansion": "Latin bellus",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "dame"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English dame",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From late (1400–1450) Middle English bel (“good”), from Old French bel (“beautiful”) + Latin bellus + dam (“mother”), Middle English dame.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "beldames",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "beldame (plural beldames)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 470:",
          "text": "There he was welcom'd of that honeſt ſyre,\nAnd of his aged Beldame homely well;\nWho him beſought himſelfe to diſattyre,\nAnd reſt himſelfe, till ſupper time befell.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:",
          "text": "Diſeaſed nature oftentimes breakes forth, / In ſtrange eruptions, oft the teeming earth / Is with a kind of collicke pincht and vext, / By the impriſoning of vnruly wind / Within her vvombe, vvhich for enlargement ſtriuing / Shakes the old Beldame earth, and topples down / Steeples and moſſegrovvn towers.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A grandmother."
      ],
      "id": "en-beldame-en-noun-vAIVWnkq",
      "links": [
        [
          "grandmother",
          "grandmother"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A grandmother."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "15 85",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "10 90",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 2 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "10 90",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "0 100",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Age",
          "orig": "en:Age",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "Time",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "6 94",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Appearance",
          "orig": "en:Appearance",
          "parents": [
            "Perception",
            "Body",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "13 87",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Female family members",
          "orig": "en:Female family members",
          "parents": [
            "Family members",
            "Female people",
            "Family",
            "Female",
            "People",
            "Gender",
            "Human",
            "Biology",
            "Psychology",
            "Sociology",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Social sciences",
            "Fundamental",
            "Society"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "1 99",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Women",
          "orig": "en:Women",
          "parents": [
            "Female",
            "Female people",
            "Feminism",
            "Gender",
            "People",
            "Ideologies",
            "Society",
            "Sociology",
            "Biology",
            "Psychology",
            "Human",
            "Politics",
            "All topics",
            "Social sciences",
            "Sciences",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, IV.i:",
          "text": "Justice is an old hobbling beldame, and I can't get her to keep pace with Generosity, for the soul of me.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "[…] have a curiosity to hear my fortune told: therefore, Sam, order the beldame forward.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 25:",
          "text": "The tablets upon which the events of the day were recorded refer to enchantresses, and we can conclude that they were by no means restricted to ancient beldames.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 6:",
          "text": "Suddenly the beldam shrieks as if she's been stuck with a dagger, long rasping insuck of breath: ‘Eeeeeeeee!’",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An old woman, particularly an ugly one."
      ],
      "id": "en-beldame-en-noun-~vEMsuEo",
      "links": [
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "ugly",
          "ugly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(now archaic) An old woman, particularly an ugly one."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "sense": "ugly woman",
          "word": "crone"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "sense": "ugly woman",
          "word": "hag"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "sense": "ugly woman",
          "word": "harridan"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbɛldəm/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛldəm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-beldame.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/26/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-beldame.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-beldame.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/26/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-beldame.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-beldame.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "beldam"
    }
  ],
  "word": "beldame"
}
{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "grandmother",
      "word": "belsire"
    },
    {
      "sense": "grandmother",
      "word": "belchild"
    }
  ],
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms derived from Old French",
    "Pages with 2 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛldəm",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛldəm/2 syllables",
    "en:Age",
    "en:Appearance",
    "en:Female family members",
    "en:Women"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "bel",
        "4": "",
        "5": "good"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English bel (“good”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "bel",
        "4": "",
        "5": "beautiful"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French bel (“beautiful”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "bellus",
        "4": ""
      },
      "expansion": "Latin bellus",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "dame"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English dame",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From late (1400–1450) Middle English bel (“good”), from Old French bel (“beautiful”) + Latin bellus + dam (“mother”), Middle English dame.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "beldames",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "beldame (plural beldames)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 470:",
          "text": "There he was welcom'd of that honeſt ſyre,\nAnd of his aged Beldame homely well;\nWho him beſought himſelfe to diſattyre,\nAnd reſt himſelfe, till ſupper time befell.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:",
          "text": "Diſeaſed nature oftentimes breakes forth, / In ſtrange eruptions, oft the teeming earth / Is with a kind of collicke pincht and vext, / By the impriſoning of vnruly wind / Within her vvombe, vvhich for enlargement ſtriuing / Shakes the old Beldame earth, and topples down / Steeples and moſſegrovvn towers.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A grandmother."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "grandmother",
          "grandmother"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A grandmother."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, IV.i:",
          "text": "Justice is an old hobbling beldame, and I can't get her to keep pace with Generosity, for the soul of me.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "[…] have a curiosity to hear my fortune told: therefore, Sam, order the beldame forward.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 25:",
          "text": "The tablets upon which the events of the day were recorded refer to enchantresses, and we can conclude that they were by no means restricted to ancient beldames.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 6:",
          "text": "Suddenly the beldam shrieks as if she's been stuck with a dagger, long rasping insuck of breath: ‘Eeeeeeeee!’",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An old woman, particularly an ugly one."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "ugly",
          "ugly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(now archaic) An old woman, particularly an ugly one."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbɛldəm/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛldəm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-beldame.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/26/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-beldame.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-beldame.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/26/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-beldame.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-beldame.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "ugly woman",
      "word": "crone"
    },
    {
      "sense": "ugly woman",
      "word": "hag"
    },
    {
      "sense": "ugly woman",
      "word": "harridan"
    },
    {
      "word": "beldam"
    }
  ],
  "word": "beldame"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.