beldam

[ bel-duhm, -dam ]
See synonyms for beldam on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an old woman, especially an ugly one; hag.

  2. Obsolete. grandmother.

Origin of beldam

1
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, equivalent to bel- “grand-” (from Middle French bel, belle “fine, good-looking”) + dam “mother”; see beau, belle, dam2
  • Also bel·dame [bel-duhm, -deym]. /ˈbɛl dəm, -ˌdeɪm/.

Words Nearby beldam

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use beldam in a sentence

  • At last the beldam stopped in an out-of-the-way part of the town, before a strange-looking house.

    ZigZag Journeys in Northern Lands; | Hezekiah Butterworth
  • The beldam hurried hither and thither, and with the help of the guinea pigs and squirrels quickly made the soup.

    ZigZag Journeys in Northern Lands; | Hezekiah Butterworth
  • Was the beldam an enchantress, and were these little animals children, whom she had stolen and made victims of her enchantments?

    ZigZag Journeys in Northern Lands; | Hezekiah Butterworth
  • Alma Mater was to me injusta noverca; and the old beldam only gave me my M.A. degree because she could not avoid it.

  • He had a certain amount of faith in the divinations of magic, and at least it could do no harm to see what the beldam would say.

    The Lost Treasure of Trevlyn | Evelyn Everett-Green

British Dictionary definitions for beldam

beldam

beldame

/ (ˈbɛldəm) /


noun
  1. archaic an old woman, esp an ugly or malicious one; hag

  2. an obsolete word for grandmother

Origin of beldam

1
C15: from bel- grand (as in grandmother), from Old French bel beautiful, from Latin bellus + dam mother, variant of dame

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012