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

On Wednesday, Bowser expressed commitment to reworking the city’s criminal code, which includes outdated laws such as banning games with balls on city streets and being a “common scold.”

From Washington Post

The overhaul would modify existing statutes that use outdated language, such as references to “common scolds,” which are individuals who disturb the peace by arguing with their neighbors.

From Washington Post

It is thus that I would see America, not as schoolmistress or common scold to the nations, but as chosen leader by example, rather than by authority.

From Project Gutenberg

Eight years later the Grand Jury of Burke County, of the same state, presented Mary Cammell as a “common scold and disturber of the peacable inhabitants of the County.”

From Project Gutenberg

"Don't go at him like a common scold," Orr engagingly pleaded at one stage of the game.

From Project Gutenberg