beldam

[ bel-duhm, -dam ]

/ ˈbɛl dəm, -dæm /

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See synonyms for beldam on Thesaurus.com

noun

an old woman, especially an ugly one; hag.

Obsolete. grandmother.

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Also bel·dame

[bel-duhm, -deym]. /ˈbɛl dəm, -ˌdeɪm/.

Origin of beldam

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

Words nearby beldam

belaying cleat, belaying pin, bel canto, belch, beld, beldam, beleaguer, beleaguered, belection, Belém, belemnite

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

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.
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. I. (of VI.)|Thomas Moore

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

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

an obsolete word for grandmother

Word Origin for beldam

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

beldam

Origin of beldam

Words nearby beldam

Words related to beldam

How to use beldam in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for beldam

beldame

Word Origin for beldam