common scold

American  

noun

1. (in early common law) a habitually rude and brawling woman whose conduct was subject to punishment as a public nuisance.

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Etymology

Origin of common scold

First recorded in 1760–70

Example Sentences

"He is not to be a common scold," he wrote in an opinion reprinted recently in the Atlantic.

From Time Magazine Archive

Casting was geared to turn a prostitute into an angel, to repolish a yaking common scold, or curve hard lips into "the kindly weak smiles of a deserving claimant."

From Time Magazine Archive

With a loud roar of rage, the felicity of phrasing and invaluable candor of a common scold, he immediately started to set things to rights.

From Time Magazine Archive

What transformed old faithful into a common scold was a series of federal safety regulations.

From Time Magazine Archive

We gather from a newspaper report that in 1889, the grand jury of Jersey City—across the Hudson River from New York—caused a sensation by indicting Mrs. Mary Brady as a "common scold."

From Bygone Punishments by Andrews, William